The changing epidemiological pattern of tinea capitis during the past two decades has emphasized the urgent need for an effective, simple, and relatively safe fungicidal agent. In this country, prior to 1940, approximately 80% of cases of tinea capitis were due to either Microsporum canis or Microsporum audouini. The number of cases of tinea capitis were comparatively small, and the incidence of disease due to these two organisms was approximately equal with local variations.1-4
During 1941 and 1942, in New York, there was observed a gradual increase in the number of cases of tinea capitis due to M. audouini. This gradual increase was followed, in 1943, by a sharp rise in the incidence of tinea capitis produced predominantly by this organism.1,4-6 In the ensuing five or six years the incidence of the disease produced by M. audouini increased to epidemic proportions and spread from New York to Albany,