Trichosporia

TRICHOSPORIA, trichosporia (syn. piedra, trichosporosis nodosa, trichosporosis tropica, trichomycosis nodularis), a peculiar fungal disease of the hair, first described by Osorio in 1876; it is encountered mainly in Central and South America; in Colombia, trichosporia is endemic. In Europe, a special form of trichosporia is known—trichosporia nostras, which is encountered mainly in the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. Trichosporia manifests itself by the formation of hard, stone-like, small nodules on the hair, which are located along the length of the hair, the appearance of which changes little as a result. These nodules are visible only under a magnifying glass, but when pulling the hair between the fingers, they are clear to the touch, forming complete or incomplete rings around the hair, sometimes in the form of continuous sheaths up to 2–5 mm in length. The size of the nodules is thus smaller than nits, and their color ranges from whitish to brown. With long hair, the nodules cling to each other, sometimes forming a so-called Colombian mat. While in America trichosporia is encountered almost exclusively on the scalp, with the European form, usually only the beard and mustache area is affected. In America, young women suffer from trichosporia predominantly, which some authors link to the practice, particularly in Colombia, of washing the head with a decoction of flaxseed, which is a good nutrient medium for the causative agent of trichosporia—Trichosporon. The nodules on the hair consist of a large number of tightly glued together, mosaically arranged spores of this fungus. The spores are double-contoured and have a nucleus and a nucleolus. A large number of varieties of Trichosporon have been described, the most frequent of which is Trichosporon giganteum, isolated by Osorio. In cultures, in some cases, white and then greenish and brown colonies grow (on agar), in other cases, dark colonies grow on Sabouraud medium, the pigment of which corresponds to the pigment found in the nodules. The prognosis is always favorable. Treatment consists of washing with very hot water with the addition of mercuric chloride (1 : 1,000–2,000); the most radical method of treatment is shaving the affected areas and subsequent washing with soap.