A Study on Rare Dermatological Infections Conducted at Three Major Reference Hospitals in Costa Rica.

Retrospective Descriptive Observational Study of the Epidemiological, Clinical and Therapeutic Profile of Patients With Rare Infections of Dermatological Interest at Three Major Reference Hospitals in Costa Rica From 2019-2023

In Costa Rica there are some descriptive studies of some of these rare infectious diseases (sporotrichosis, chromomycosis and mycetomas); however, there are no recent published reports. Most of the publications on the subject date back to the previous century; from 2000 to the present year there are only publications of small series of cases, so the current behavior of these skin infections is unknown. The primary objective is to analyze the epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic profile and determine the risk factors in patients with a diagnosis of rare infections of dermatological interest treated at Hospital México, Hospital Rafael Calderón Guardia, and Hospital San Juan de Dios during the period 2019-2023.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age over 18 years, regardless of gender and ethnic group.
2. Patients who during the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023 received medical care at the Hospital Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, Hospital México and Hospital San Juan de Dios.
3. Subjects who meet a confirmed microbiological, histological and/or molecular diagnosis of sporotrichosis, chromomycosis, actinomycosis, nocardiosis, mycetoma, mycobacterial infection, coccidioidomycosis, blastomycosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, cutaneous nocardiosis and pheomycotic abscess (either through the unique digital health record, pathology registries, clinical laboratory service database of each hospital, clinical laboratory of the University of Costa Rica and Instituto Costarricense de Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud).
4. Subjects diagnosed at a private level and referred to continue medical care at Hospital Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia, Hospital México and Hospital San Juan de Dios.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. The research team may exclude patients who have an unconfirmed diagnosis, an erroneous diagnosis, or have participated in the study before, as they may hinder the ability to obtain satisfactory data to achieve the study's objectives.
2. Patients who have more than 30% of the variables required for analysis missing will also be excluded from the study.