Tinea manuum is a common superficial fungal infection which is usually coexistent with tinea pedis; there are few studies available on the epidemiology of tinea manuum at present. This study aims to investigate the epidemiology of tinea manuum and its correlation with tinea pedis in south China. A total of 280 patients with tinea manuum were recruited. The epidemiological and clinical data were analyzed, and causative agents were isolated and identified mycologically. Totally, 84.3 % patients with tinea manuum had co-occurrence of tinea pedis, among which 88.4 % patients had experience of scratching their feet. There was a significant relationship between the touch habits and the hand infection (χ(2) = 65.451, P = 0.000). More than 90 % patients had quite the same species of isolates from multiple infected sites in one patient. Therefore, it seems that transmission of dermatophytes from the feet to hand by scratching might be a most common way. As for tinea manuum, whether "unilateral" or "bilateral" is just the result that pathogens spread from feet to hand(s), which is only a special clinical presentation of tinea.