RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Skin neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), are endemic and under-diagnosed in many lower-income communities. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of skin NTDs and fungal infections in two primary schools and a community setting in rural Togo. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study that took place between June-October 2021. The two primary schools are located on the outskirts of Lomé, the capital city. The community setting was Ndjéi, in north-east Togo. Study sites were purposively selected. Dermatologists examined the skin of study participants. Diagnosis of skin NTDs were made clinically. RESULTS: A total of 1401 individuals were examined, 954 (68.1%) from Ndjéi community, and 447 (31.9%) were children in the schools. Cutaneous skin infections were diagnosed in 438 (31.3%) participants, of whom 355 (81%) were in community settings. There were 105 observed skin NTDs (7.5%). Within the school setting, there were 20 individuals with NTDs (4.5% of 447 participants), and 85 NTDs (8.9%) from 954 community participants. Across all settings 68/1020 (6.7%) NTDs were in children, and 37/381 (9.7%) in adults. In addition, there were 333 observed mycoses (23.8% prevalence). The main cutaneous NTDs diagnosed were scabies (n = 86; 6.1%) and suspected yaws (n = 16, 1.1%). The prevalence of scabies in schools was 4.3%, and 7.0% in the rural community. One case of leprosy was diagnosed in each school and the rural community, and one suspected Buruli Ulcer case in the community. In the school setting, five (6%) children with a skin NTD reported being stigmatised, four of whom had refused to attend school because of their dermatosis. In Ndjéi, 44 (4.6%) individuals reported having experienced stigma and 41 (93.2%) of them missed at least one day of school or work. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the burden of scabies and skin infections such as superficial mycoses is high in the school and rural community settings in Togo, with associated presence of stigma. Improved health promotion and education across institutional and community settings may reduce stigma and encourage early reporting of skin infection cases to a health facility.
Assuntos
Dermatomicoses , Escabiose , Adulto , Criança , Humanos , Prevalência , População Rural , Estudos Transversais , Togo/epidemiologia , Dermatomicoses/epidemiologia , Instituições Acadêmicas , Doenças Negligenciadas/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the overview of current dermatosis in children in dermatological consultation in Lomé and to deduce the evolutionary trend of these dermatoses between 1992 and 2020. Method: This was a retrospective descriptive study concerning patients aged 0 to 15 years seen in consultation in the public dermatological services of Lomé from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019. The reasons for consultation were reviewed and classified into groups of dermatosis (immunoallergic, infectious, inflammatory, tumoral ). The results of this series were compared with those of a similar study carried out in 1992. Results: During the study period, 3 767 children attended showing dermatological condition (14.2% of the dermatological consultations were pediatric). The average age of the patients was 7.4 years and the sex ratio M/F was 0.7. July, August and September were the months with the highest number of consultations. The top three reasons for consultation were eczema (26.6%), prurigo strophulus (15.3%) and atopic dermatitis (4.9%). 51.3% of skin diseases in children were represented by immunoallergic dermatoses, followed by infectious dermatoses 23.6%. The predominant infectious dermatoses were fungal (34.4%) and bacterial (30.3%). Between 1992 and 2019, there was an increase in the prevalence of immunoallergic dermatoses and a reduction in infectious dermatoses. Conclusion: Immunoallergic dermatoses are predominant and clearly increasing among children seen in dermatological consultations in Lomé.