Athlete's foot

Athlete's foot is regularly caused by an infection with filamentous fungi, the so-called dermatophytes. Dermatophytes are skin fungi in the narrower sense of the word. They feed on the keratin of the skin and only occur on the surface. They always stay either in the epidermis, in the hair or in the nails.

The most frequent pathogen is Trichophyton rubrum. It is found in almost 90% of cases in the affected skin scales material (see figure).

However, infections with other dermatophytes and mixed infections with some yeast and mould fungi are also possible.