Prevalence of Tinea capitis in school going children from Mathare, informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya

Background Tinea capitis is a common infection especially in poor resource settings. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence Tinea capitis in children from selected schools from an urban slum in Nairobi city of Kenya. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in 150 school going children during the period between May and September 2013. A questionnaire was administered and cultures of scalps, skin scrapping/hair stubs samples were performed and the etiological agents identified and confirmed. Results In a total of one hundred and fifty (150) children recruited 89 (59.3%) were males and 61 (40.7%) females aged between 3 and 14 years. The overall prevalence rates in dermatophytes infection was 81.3% (122/150) with etiological agents consisting Trichophyton spp. (61.3%), Microsporum spp. (13.3%) and Epidermophyton spp. (7.3%) infections with infections occurring either singly (56%), duo (38%) or tipple co-infections (6%). Conclusion This study demonstrates a high prevalence of Tinea infections with Trichophyton tonsurans as the predominant etiological agent in school going children of the urban slums of Nairobi. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1240-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.