For the first time, two cases of highly contagious drug-resistant ringworm infections have been detected in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC says the infections were found in two patients in New York who did not improve with treatment.
A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. (REUTERS/Tami Chappell, File)
The first patient was a 28-year-old woman who developed a “generalized itchy rash” in the summer of 2021. The woman, who was pregnant at the time of diagnosis, had no known exposure to anyone with a similar rash and no travel history.
A second person, a 47-year-old woman, had developed a generalized itchy rash in the summer of 2022 while in Bangladesh. After returning to the United States, she was prescribed several treatments with no improvement.
Both women needed weeks of therapy to get rid of the infection.
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A New York City dermatologist has informed public health officials of the two patients who had severe ringworm that did not improve with oral terbinafine treatment, raising concerns about a possible terbinafine infection. “Trichophyton indotineae”. Over the past decade, there has been an epidemic of a severe, antifungal-resistant skin infection called ringworm – commonly referred to as “ringworm” – in South Asia due to the rapid increase in T. indotineae.
T. indotineae infections have been reported in Asia, Europe and Canada, but not in the United States
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The CDC says the first patient’s lack of travel could suggest possible local transmission in the United States of T. indotineae.
He urged health care providers who suspect T. indotineae infection to contact the appropriate local or state public health department for assistance with testing.
