Trichophyton tonsurans in Chile: genotyping in search of an origin

Trichophyton tonsurans is a cosmopolitan dermatophyte, highly prevalent in Africa, South America, and endemic in North America, where it is mostly related to cases of tinea capitis. Recently, it was also reported in Chile for the first time in two outbreaks occurred in Santiago. In the present study we sequenced the variable internal repeat (VIR) region of a Chilean isolate and compared its genotype with those of several global T. tonsurans isolates. The results showed that the Chilean isolate presented a new genotype which was strictly correlated with isolates from Europe, USA and Mexico.