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High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022

Data about the prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, and public knowledge of superficial fungal infections in the United States are scarce. These infections are a growing concern given the emergence of antifungal drug resistance. We analyzed data from a national survey of nearly 6000 U.S. adults. Overal...

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Autores principales: Benedict, Kaitlin, Gold, Jeremy A. W., Wu, Karen, Lipner, Shari R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9860956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36675840
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof9010019
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author Benedict, Kaitlin
Gold, Jeremy A. W.
Wu, Karen
Lipner, Shari R.
author_facet Benedict, Kaitlin
Gold, Jeremy A. W.
Wu, Karen
Lipner, Shari R.
author_sort Benedict, Kaitlin
collection PubMed
description Data about the prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, and public knowledge of superficial fungal infections in the United States are scarce. These infections are a growing concern given the emergence of antifungal drug resistance. We analyzed data from a national survey of nearly 6000 U.S. adults. Overall, 114 (2.7%) participants reported having ringworm and 415 (10.0%) reported a fungal nail infection in the past 12 months; 61.4% of participants with any superficial fungal infection were self-diagnosed. Most patients (55.5%) used over-the-counter antifungals. The common nature of superficial fungal infections and the high rates of self-diagnosis and treatment indicate that community education about these infections should be considered a public health priority.
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spelling pubmed-98609562023-01-22 High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022 Benedict, Kaitlin Gold, Jeremy A. W. Wu, Karen Lipner, Shari R. J Fungi (Basel) Brief Report Data about the prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, and public knowledge of superficial fungal infections in the United States are scarce. These infections are a growing concern given the emergence of antifungal drug resistance. We analyzed data from a national survey of nearly 6000 U.S. adults. Overall, 114 (2.7%) participants reported having ringworm and 415 (10.0%) reported a fungal nail infection in the past 12 months; 61.4% of participants with any superficial fungal infection were self-diagnosed. Most patients (55.5%) used over-the-counter antifungals. The common nature of superficial fungal infections and the high rates of self-diagnosis and treatment indicate that community education about these infections should be considered a public health priority. MDPI 2022-12-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9860956/ /pubmed/36675840 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof9010019 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Brief Report
Benedict, Kaitlin
Gold, Jeremy A. W.
Wu, Karen
Lipner, Shari R.
High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022
title High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022
title_full High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022
title_fullStr High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022
title_full_unstemmed High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022
title_short High Frequency of Self-Diagnosis and Self-Treatment in a Nationally Representative Survey about Superficial Fungal Infections in Adults—United States, 2022
title_sort high frequency of self-diagnosis and self-treatment in a nationally representative survey about superficial fungal infections in adults—united states, 2022
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9860956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36675840
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof9010019
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