Skin scrapings taken from toe spaces of 200 healthy volunteers and from toe webs and groins of 150 pediatric patients were cultured for Candida albicans using the serum germ-tube test. The results showed that Candida albicans can be isolated in about 15% of normal toe spaces and 14% of children with normal groins. Although Candida albicans can be found in various grades of athlete's foot and also in some abnormal groins, we believe that it is not necessarily responsible for these conditions and is often present at these sites only as a saprophyte.
A total of 14,342 patients with skin diseases who had attended either the National University of Malaysia skin clinic or a private dermatological office were analysed. Five hundred and thirty-four cases (3.7%) had atopic eczema, the prevalence being highest among the Malays (4.3%). The prevalence of atopic eczema among clinic attenders is lower in all three major Malaysian races when compared with studies from England.