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Children who have tinea capitis are usually treated with oral griseofulvin for 6 to 8 weeks. Investigators in Philadelphia conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether short courses of terbinafine yield an equivalent outcome. They reviewed six studies involving 603 children with culture-proven tinea capitis. Children were assigned randomly to receive either griseofulvin (6-8 weeks of treatment in 5 of 6 studies) or terbinafine (2-4 weeks of treatment in 5 of 6 studies).
In an analysis that included all data, no difference was found in the rate of cure at 12 weeks after treatment started. However, one study involved only children in whom an uncommon organism, microsporum, was the causative agent. When only the remaining five studies (469 ch…