An unnamed woman has described what she underwent after contracting a fungal disease that caused scaly rashes on her body.
A form of drug resistant ringworm, also known as tinea, has struck down at least two women in the US this year, according to America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Health experts have raised the alarm about the contagious skin infection and one infectious disease specialist has warned it could be an epidemic. The strain of ringworm, which was confirmed to be Trichophyton indotineae, is currently spreading through India and other parts of South Asia.
Ringworm is a common infection that is usually treated with anti-fungal medicine, but treatment was less effective for the two infections in the US.
Woman, 28, infected while pregnant
One of two people affected, a 28-year-old woman who was pregnant during the infection, described the grim infection that struck her.
The patient experienced rashes on her body in the summer of 2021 and she sought medical attention in the December of that year once the scaly rashes began to spring up all over her body.
Medical experts believe the disease was spread locally in the US as the woman had not been abroad shortly before she was infected.
A dermatologist diagnosed her with tinea and prescribed antifungal treatment in January 2022 after her baby was born, but this did not help. However, a four-week course of the antifungal itraconazole eventually cleared the rash.
Woman, 47, whose infection did not clear
Antifungal treatment did not fully clear the rash for the other patient, a 47-year-old woman who also had strange rashes.
The second US patient sought medical assistance on three different occasions in the latter part of 2022 after she had gotten rashes while travelling in Bangladesh.
While two four-week courses of medications improved matters, but around 20 per cent of the rash-affected areas remained.
Rashes also appeared in the form of widespread, scaly ring-like rashes on the thighs and buttocks of her husband and son.
Why are the fungal infections concerning?
Health experts have said fungal infections are often resistant to medication and they are becoming more common in people amid warmer temperatures caused by climate change.
Fungal infections not responding to treatments may also be caused by the overuse of medication, making fungus more resistant.
The ringworm infection can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact and is usually found in children, but anyone can become infected.
David Denning, Professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health at the University of Manchester, said the "world is not yet prepared" for what will become an epidemic of skin infections due to higher temperatures driven by climate change and resistant medication.
He added: "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."
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