Dermatophytes Contamination of Wrestling Mats in Sport Centers of Isfahan, Iran

Dermatophytes are fungi and one of the most common infections in the medicine. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of wrestling mats contamination with dermatophytes in the sport centers of Isfahan city of Iran. All the sport centers in Isfahan city that had the wrestling club were enrolled into this cross sectional study. For each club, six samples were taken. For culturing, samples were inoculated onto mycosel agar (SCC). The differentiation of dermatophytes was carried out based on colony morphology on mycosel agar and microscopical appearance. Seven wrestling clubs were included. Only two dermatophytes of Trichophyton rubrum (T. rubrum) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (T. menta.) were detected in wrestling mats. T. rubrum was detected in five of clubs and T. menta in one club. Of all the samples (21 samples), 13 (61.9%) were contaminated (52.4% and 9.5% were T. rubrum. and T. menta. respectively). There was no significant difference in the type of dermatophytes between clubs with and without air conditioning (P = 0.571) and also between distribution of type of dermatophytes in clubs with and without positive history of fungal infection during last month (P = 0.792). According to these findings, we think that contamination of wrestling mats with T. rubrum. and T. menta. will have an important role in infection of wrestlers. Appropriate preventive programs must be designed to reduce incidence of fungal skin infection in wrestlers.