{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T06:19:40Z","timestamp":1775110780202,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775088000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Fungal Biol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Superficial fungal infections (SFIs) are among the most common skin diseases worldwide; however, the pathogenic species of SFIs vary among geographical areas. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiologic profile of superficial fungal infections with a focus on onychomycosis in the Department of Laboratory Medicine of Ningbo First Hospital.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 1309 patients with superficial mycoses who visited our hospital between March 2023 and October 2024 were selected. Scraping of the lesion was performed via a sterilization scraper. A portion of each sample was used for direct examination, and the other portion was used for cultivation. For the culture results, microscopic morphology and automatic rapid microbial matrix-assisted laser desorption\/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) were used as a routine examination. For fungi that routine examinations couldn\u2019t identify, further sequencing of the rDNA-ITS region was carried out for atypical strains to the species level.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Patients were between 1 year and 93 years old, and the peak incidence was in the 21\u201330 years age group. More superficial mycoses were found in women (63.94%) than in men (36.06%). The causative agents identified were: dermatophytes (32.85%), yeasts (49.20%) and non-dermatophyte molds (NDM) (17.95%). Positive cultures of dermatophytes were obtained from 430 patients:\n                      <jats:italic>Trichophyton<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. (89.07%) was predominant, followed by\n                      <jats:italic>Microsporum<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. (10.93%). Yeasts were isolated from 644 patients, and\n                      <jats:italic>Candida<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. (93.01%) were the major pathogens, followed by\n                      <jats:italic>Trichosporon<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. (6.99%). Among the 1309 patients, nails were the largest source of SFIs (81.67%), followed by glabrous skin (6.04%) and feet (4.20%).\n                      <jats:italic>Candida<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. were the most prevalent species in cases of onychomycosis (47.05%), followed by\n                      <jats:italic>Trichophyton<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. (29.09%) and\n                      <jats:italic>Aspergillus<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. (16.65%).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Our study revealed that nails constituted the largest source of SFIs in Ningbo, and women were more likely to have onychomycosis than men were. Moreover, we found that\n                      <jats:italic>Candida<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. was the most prevalent species in cases of onychomycosis, and\n                      <jats:italic>Trichophyton rubrum<\/jats:italic>\n                      was responsible for the majority of dermatophyte-associated infections.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/ffunb.2026.1716554","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T05:26:14Z","timestamp":1775107574000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Epidemiology and fungal species distribution of onychomycosis and other superficial mycoses in the coastal city of Ningbo, China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Yao","family":"Lu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo First Hospital","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pingping","family":"Qiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Interventional Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo First Hospital","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yijun","family":"Mo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo First Hospital","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Minhong","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Ninghai County Third Hospital","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xumei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo First Hospital","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xingbei","family":"Weng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo First Hospital","place":["Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mycmed.2020.100949","article-title":"Treatment and management strategies of onychomycosis","volume":"30","author":"Aggarwal","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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