Two women have been struck down with a highly contagious fungal disease. The unnamed patients, aged 28 and 47, have been infected with the first known cases of the drug-resistant ringworm, also known as tinea, in the US, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The patients experienced lesions on their neck, buttocks, things and abdomen. Experts are now warning the fungal infections are becoming increasingly common due to higher temperatures driven by climate change and resistant medication, reports the Mirror.
The 28-year-old woman first reported rashes appearing on her body in the summer of 2021 and sought medical attention in December after she had large, scaly rashes across her body. A dermatologist diagnosed her with tinea and prescribed antifungal treatment in January 2022 after her baby was born but it did not make a difference, according to medics.
She was then given a four-week course of the antifungal itraconazole which eventually cleared the rash. The patient had not been abroad recently with officials believing the infection was spread locally in the US.
Meanwhile, a second woman, 47, started to get huge rashes while travelling in Bangladesh. But, despite applying creams to try and help her rash upon her return to the US, it made no difference.
She ended up going to a medical centre on three separate occasions in late 2022 after her rashes started to spread. Dermatologists eventually gave two four-week medication courses which helped improve the rash by 80 per cent.
According to the CDC, the 47-year-old, who lives with her husband and son, were also experiencing symptoms including widespread, scaly ring-like rashes on their thighs and buttocks. The strain of ringworm was tested by officials, which came back as Trichophyton indotineae, which is currently tearing through India and other parts of South Asia.
Health officials admitted they are "concerned" with the infection as it has not responded to the normal treatments prescribed by dermatologists. Officials believe this is due to medication overuse with patients becoming more susceptible to fungal infections and making fungi more resilient.
The ringworm infection can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact and can cause red rashes all over the body. It is usually found in children - but anyone can contact it.
Cases are normally treated with antifungal creams, however, sometimes these do not work and oral antifungal medication is needed to treat the fungal infection.
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