Carpet weaving: an occupational risk for onychomycosis?

[[[ Background: ]]] Some occupations carry a risk for fungal infections. [[[ Objective: ]]] To investigate the prevalence of onychomycosis in carpet weavers. [[[ Methods: ]]] Seventy-seven weavers (the mean age +/- SD = 32.97 +/- 12.38) from three factories and 77 controls (the mean age +/- SD = 38.32 +/- 12.38) were examined for onychomycosis. Samples from nails and the carpets, which were being weaved, were taken for mycological investigations. [[[ Results: ]]] Direct microscopic examination of only two controls’ normal-appearing nails was positive. Fungal growth was observed in the culture of four weavers’ normal-appearing nails. It was watched over that most of the weavers had polished-appearing nails and were using a glue containing cyanoacrylate to restore their broken nails due to weaving. [[[ Conclusion: ]]] The fungal growth observed in weavers’ nails has been accepted as colonization. There is no data about the presence of fungi on normal-appearing nails. So, we thought that the weavers with fungal colonization should be followed for the development of onychomycosis.