Fungal Infection Treatment in Thalassery

Twenty-Eight Monsoons of Treating Malabar Tinea

The classic patient at the founding clinic has had the rash for six months, has used four different creams, and now has a dark, irregular, thickened patch across the groin and inner thighs that itches at night. The creams contained steroids that stopped the itch and fed the fungus; the rash lost its ring shape and spread. It is still tinea, still curable, and still needs a proper course rather than a fifth tube.

Diagnosis is confirmed by a KOH scraping under the microscope, which also catches the imitators: eczema in the folds, inverse psoriasis, and the yeast infections that develop under the breasts and in the groin during the monsoon. Nails are examined because a single fungal toenail reinfects the body for years; feet, scalp and family members are checked for the same reason.

Dr. C.P. Thajudheen and Dr. Swathi P prescribe oral antifungal tablets for four to eight weeks in most adults, with matched topical treatment and medicated washes where needed, and monitoring bloods where the medicine requires them. Nail infections are treated for months. The course continues after the skin looks clear, because the fungus is still in it.

What stops relapse in a monsoon town is drying: changing out of wet lungis and work clothes, cotton inner wear washed in hot water and dried in whatever sun there is, powder in the folds, and separate towels. Gulf returnees with long-standing infections, fishermen and construction workers get plans built around their work.

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