Geographical distribution of the dermatophytes: a review

In these days of rapid transit from continent to continent, and the increasing mobility of people, agents of disease are no longer geographically restricted. Disease contracted half way across the world may become manifest in a country in which the pathogen is not normally found. Thus knowledge of the geographical distribution of pathogens becomes increasingly important when a diagnosis is being made. This is as true of ringworm fungi as of any other group of micro-organisms. In the last 12 years, in the Mycological Reference Laboratory, an increasing number of exotic dermatophytes have been seen, related in part at least to the great increase in the number of non-British residents.