Back ground: Dermatomycosis is a common fungal infection that constitutes public health problem among humans and animals worldwide, including Ethiopia. Though it is a trivial disease, its psychological effect and morbidity in terms of loss of time and treatment cost is considerable. Objective: To describe the most dominant clinical manifestation, the dominant fungi implicated as a cause of dermatomycosis and determine the prevalence of dermatophytes, non- dermatophyte fungi and yeasts collected

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... from clinical samples suspected of dermatomycosis. Material and methods: a cross sectional descriptive study design from January to May, 2014 was conducted at Tikur Anbessa Hospital. Scrapings from skin nail and scalp of 305 study participants was collected by employing standard routine microbiological techniques. A portion of each sample was placed on a slide and a drop of an aqueous solution of 10% (w/v) potassium hydroxide, was added. After 5 minutes, the wet mount was examined under low (X10) and high (X40) power magnification for the presence of fungal elements. The remaining portion of each clinical sample was cultured irrespective of the negative or positive direct microscopic examination results. Each sample was streaked on two plates of Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) with chloramphenicol and SDA, with chloramphenicol and cychloheximide which were prepared according to the manufacture's instruction. All inoculated plates were then incubated at inverted position for 4-6 weeks at 25-300C aerobically. Incubated plates were examined twice a week for any fungal growth. Colonies suspected of dermatophytes were sub-cultured into potato dextrose agar for the production of spores. Mold isolates were identified by examining macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of their colony. Microscopic identification of mold isolates was performed by placing pieces cultures from SDA and/or PDA to clean microscopic slide and staining with lactophenol cotton blue. After placing a cover slip, each preparation was observed microscopic [...]