Warning 'world not prepared' as highly contagious disease spreads - 'Already in the USA'
An image of a fungal disease
Wikimedia Commons
The “world is not yet prepared” for what havoc a highly contagious disease could wreak after two women were infected with a drug-resistant ringworm, an expert has warned.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that two unnamed patients, aged 28 and 47, contracted tinea.
The pair suffered lesions on their necks, buttocks, thighs and abdomen.
Family members have also suffered from symptoms.
An image from inside a hospital ward
PA
The 28-year-old patient first reported rashes on her body in the summer of 2021.
She later sought medical attention in December.
A dermatologist diagnosed her with tinea and prescribed antifungal treatment in January 2022 after her baby was born.
The woman was given a four-week course of antifungal itraconazole which eventually cleared the rash.
The 47-year-old patient started to see rashes while travelling in Bangladesh.
She was unable to clear up the rash despite applying creams upon her return to the US.
The woman ended up visiting a medical centre on three separate occasions in late 2022.
Dermatologists eventually gave two four-week medication courses which helped improve the rash by 80 per cent.
David Denning, Professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health at the University of Manchester, warned the infection can easily transmit in schools and homes.
David Denning, Professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health at the University of Manchester, warned the infection can easily transmit in schools and homes
David Denning
He also told The Mirror: “There are not enough such laboratories, but there are rapid tests for resistance commercially available.
“The world is not yet prepared for what will likely become a slowly evolving epidemic of these skin infections.”
Denning added: “Skin fungal infections are transmitted from one person to another in schools, homes and with intimate contact.
"This new terbinafine-resistant fungus is a new species called Trichophyton indotineae and first identified in India.
"The huge Indian diaspora has already seen this fungus spread to other countries including Canada and Germany, and now the USA."