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Evaluation of a newly-developed immunochromatography strip test for diagnosing dermatophytosis
Conflicts of interest and Funding: The immunochromatography strips used in this study were provided by Yokohama Research Center, Chisso Corporation (Yokohama, Japan). MM, HW, and ST are employees of Chisso Corporation. The Department of Dermatology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences has received financial support from Chisso Corporation. YH and TK have no consulting agreements with Chisso Corporation.
Yuko Higashi, md, phd
Department of Dermatology
Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
8-35-1 Sakuragaoka
Kagoshima 890-8520
Japan
E-mail: higashiy@m.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Abstract
Background Traditionally, dermatophytosis, a common disease affecting millions of people world-wide, has been diagnosed by direct microscopy and fungal culture. The immunochromatography (ICG) strip test was recently developed.
Methods We compared the performance of the ICG strip test for the detection of dermatophytes in samples from human skin and nails with direct microscopy. The 160 samples, consisting of 88 skin and 72 nail specimens, were subjected to direct microscopy study using a 20% KOH solution and to examination with the ICG strip test. Of 160 samples, 18 were examined by fungal culture using Sabouraud dextrose agar medium.
Results We found that the overall sensitivity and specificity of the ICG test were 83.5% and 66.7%; they were 82.1% and 76.2% for the 88 skin and 85.4% and 58.3% for the 72 nail specimens, respectively.
Conclusions Our findings indicate that the efficacy of the ICG test is comparable to direct microscopy for the detection of dermatophytes. Performance of the assay was easy, and results were available quickly. We suggest that it is an effective tool for dermatophytosis screening.