74 An Introduction to Medical Mycology 



include a careful examination of the scalp. The use of filtered ultraviolet 

 rays simplifies the examination and increases its accuracy and its rapidity. 



2. Patients with ringworm should be excluded from school provided 

 there is intelligent supervision of the child's activities at home. The danger 

 to other children in the home or elsewhere is minimized if the patient 

 constantly wears a linen cap. 



3. Barbers should be told that infected combs and brushes will spread 

 the infection. If the comb and brush were washed with soap and water 

 after each use, this would probably be sufficient to prevent infection. The 

 physician should not send a patient with tinea capitis to the barber shop. He 

 might better remove the hair himself with hair clippers which he can 

 sterilize. Barbers should be instructed not to cut the hair of a child with 

 evidence of tinea capitis. 



4. As this edition is being written, an epidemic of scalp ringworm due to 

 M. audouini has been present for over four years in New York City. There 

 is some evidence that the infection was spread in part from contact with 

 the backs of theater seats, through the medium of barber shops and because 

 of the overcrowding incidental to war and postwar conditions with rapid 

 change of residence and lack of housing facilities. Some form of quarantine 

 of infected children, so that other children are not exposed, may be requisite 

 when such an epidemic occurs. 



5. Parents should be instructed always to wash the child's scalp imme- 

 diately after each haircut. The use of 5 per cent ammoniated mercury 

 ointment before the shampoo would be additional protection. 



6. Before admittance to a home or orphanage a child should be free from 

 ringworm of the scalp, as shown under filtered ultraviolet rays. 



7. Pets, particularly kittens, should be inspected under filtered ultra- 

 violet rays, since they may be carriers of ringworm. The danger is probably 

 greatest with stray animals. 



8. Children must avoid persons known to be infected. This admonition 



would seem trite were it not for the many instances in which little concern 



was shown until the infection had been transferred from one person to 



another. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Arzt, L., and Fuhs, H.: Ueber durch Trichophyton violaceum hervorgerufene Pilzerkrankun- 

 gen (Ein Beitrag zur Pilzflora in Wien), Dermat. Wchnschr. 76:409, 1923; Zur Entstehung 

 der Allgemeinexantheme bei Mikrosporie, Arch. f. Dermat. u. Syph. 143:52, 1923; Ueber 

 Allgemeinerkrankungen bei Andouinischer Mikrosporie, Acta dermat.-venereol. 4:59, 1923. 



Becker, S. W., and Mum, K. B.: Tinea amiantacea, Arch. Dermat. & Syph. 20:45, 1929. 



Blumenfeld, A.: Kerion microsporicum with hematogenous and ectogenous microsporids, 

 Arch. Dermat. & Syph. 24:607, 1931. 



Cleveland, D. E. H.: Infectix itv of fluorescent hairs in scalp ringworm, Canad. M. A. J. 

 49:280, 1943. 



CUMMER, C. L.: Tinea capitis with kerion in an adult caused by Trichophyton gypseum- 

 lacticolor, Arch. Dermat. & Syph. 36:844, 1937. 



