Prevalence of Tinea Capitis in school going children from

11 Background: Tinea capitis is a common infection especially in poor resource settings. This 12 study was aimed at determining the prevalence Tinea capitis in children from selected schools 13 from an urban slum in Nairobi city of Kenya. 14 Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 150 school going children during the period 15 between May and September 2013. A questionnaire was administered and cultures of scalps, 16 skin scrapping/hair stubs samples were performed and the etiological agents identified and 17 confirmed. 18 Results: In a total of one hundred and fifty (150) children recruited 89 (59.3%) were males and 19 61 (40.7%) females aged between 3-14years. The overall prevalence rates in dermatophytes 20 infection was 81.3% (122/150) with etiological agents consisting Trichophyton spp (61.3%), 21 Microsporum spp (13.3%) and Epidermophyton spp (7.3%) infections with infections occurring 22 either singly (56%), duo (38%) or tipple co-infections (6%). 23 Conclusion: This study demonstrates a high prevalence of Tinea infections with Trichophyton 24 tonsurans as the predominant etiological agent in school going children of the urban slums of 25 Nairobi. 26