“New Contagious Ringworm Variant Spreading Globally: Trichophyton Indotineae”

Ringworm is best known as an itchy fungal infection that most often affects children under the age of 10. Now a new and more contagious variant is spreading around the world.

The new variety is called Trichophyton indotineae and is spreading to more and more countries.

According to Journal of Fungi the fungus has spread at a “near epidemic” rate from India and several other countries in South Asia and to several countries around the world.

Among other things several countries in Europe, including Denmark in 2019, according to several research reports on the infection.

– Lack of overview

Ringworm is caused by fungi and is usually transmitted by direct contact from an infected person or animal. There are over 40 different varieties of the fungus, including athlete’s foot and nail fungus.

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FHI informs Nettavisen that they are not aware of any cases of the variant in Norway.

– Ringworm is not subject to notification in Norway and we therefore do not have an overview of the number of cases, writes senior doctor Silje Bruland Lavoll in the department of infection control and preparedness at the Institute of Public Health to Nettavisen.

At the end of February, a dermatologist in New York, USA, reported findings in two patients with the new type of ringworm. The two cases had no connection to each other, informs the health authorities in the country.

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One year apart, a 28-year-old pregnant woman and a 47-year-old woman were diagnosed with the fungal infection in the body. The former had no travel history or traces of contact with people with the same rash.

The authorities now suspect that the fungus has spread in American society.

Difficult to treat

Ringworm is characterized by a slightly itchy rash that forms rings on the skin. It often takes the form of a red ring in certain places on the body.

Trichophyton indotinae, on the other hand, affects much larger areas of the body and a photo from India shows a man with almost the entire back covered in rashes.

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– Trichophyton indotineae is a variant that is highly resistant to common fungicides and will thus be more difficult to treat, says Lavoll in FHI.

According to the USA’s infectious disease control agency, the 28-year-old woman was diagnosed with the infection in 2021. She did not get rid of the infection until early 2022, after the baby was born.

Ringworm is usually treated with over-the-counter creams. Trichophyton indotineae, on the other hand, is multi-resistant and curing the disease has proven difficult, according to the short American study.

Since the summer of 2022, the 47-year-old woman has tried to be cured with three different cures, without success. According to the study, doctors are now working to find a new cure.