Types of ringworm: tinea corporis and tinea cruris. What are the symptoms?
Types of ringworm: tinea faciei and tinea manus. What are the symptoms?
Types of ringworm: tinea pedis and tinea unguium. What are the symptoms?
What tests do health care professionals use to diagnose ringworm?
What kinds of health care professionals treat ringworm?
What is the treatment for ringworm? Are there home remedies for ringworm?
Is it possible to prevent ringworm?
What is the prognosis (outlook) for ringworm?
Ringworm facts
Ringworm is a common fungal infection of the skin and is not due to a worm.
The medical term for ringworm is tinea. The skin disease is further named for the site of the body where the infection occurs.
Some types of ringworm infection include tinea corporis, tinea capitis, tinea pedis (“athlete’s foot”), and tinea cruris (“jock itch”).
Ringworm causes a scaly, crusted rash that may appear as round, red patches on the skin. Other symptoms and signs of ringworm include patches of hair loss or scaling on the scalp, itching, and blister-like lesions.
Ringworm is contagious and can be passed from person to person.
Ringworm can be successfully treated with antifungal medications used either topically or orally.
Is ringworm contagious?
Ringworm occurs in people of all ages, but it is particularly common in children. It occurs most often in warm, moist climates. Ringworm is a contagious disease and can be passed from person to person by contact with infected skin areas or by sharing combs and brushes, other personal care items, or clothing. It is also possible to become infected with ringworm after coming in contact with locker room or pool surfaces. The infection can also affect dogs and cats, and pets may transmit the infection to humans. It is common to have several areas of ringworm at once in different body areas.
Ringworm Pictures Slideshow
Quiz: Is Ringworm Contagious?
Childhood Skin Problems Slideshow
What does the term ringworm mean?
The term ringworm or ringworms refers to fungal infections that are on the surface of the skin. The name is derived from the early belief that the infection was due to a worm, which it is not. Ringworm is a fungal infection in the skin. Nevertheless, the name ringworm remains. Some of these fungi produce a rash of round scaly spots on the skin, but many do not. On the other hand, many round, red spots or rashes on the skin are not due to a fungal infection. A physical examination of the affected skin, evaluation of skin scrapings under the microscope, and culture tests can help health care professionals make the appropriate diagnosis and distinctions from other conditions. A proper diagnosis is best for successful treatment.
The medical term for ringworm is tinea. (Tinea is the Latin name for a growing worm.) Health care professionals add another word to indicate the part of the body where the fungus is located. Tinea capitis, for instance, refers to scalp ringworm, tinea corporis to fungus of the body, tinea pedis to fungus of the feet, and so on.
What causes ringworm?
Although the world is full of yeasts, molds, and fungi, only a few cause skin disease. These agents are called the dermatophytes (which means “skin fungi”). An infection with these fungi is medically known as dermatophytosis. Skin fungi can only live on the dead layer of keratin protein on top of the skin. They rarely invade deeper into the body and cannot live on mucous membranes, such as those in the mouth or vagina.
Scientific names for the most common of the dermatophyte fungi that cause ringworm include Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton tonsurans, Trichophyton interdigitale, and/or Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis, and Epidermophyton floccosum.
What are the sources of skin fungi?
Some fungi live only on human skin, hair, or nails. Others live on animals and only sometimes are found on human skin. Still others live in the soil. It is often difficult or impossible to identify the source of a particular person’s skin fungus. The fungi may spread from person to person (anthropophilic), from animal to person (zoophilic), or from the soil to a person (geophilic).
Heat and moisture help fungi grow and thrive, which makes them more commonly found in skin folds such as those in the groin or between the toes. This also accounts for their reputation as being caught from showers, locker rooms, and swimming pools. This reputation is exaggerated, though, since many people with “jock itch” or “athlete’s foot” have not contracted the infection from locker rooms or athletic facilities.
Quiz: Is Ringworm Contagious?
Childhood Skin Problems Slideshow
What are risk factors for ringworm?
As described previously, it is possible to acquire ringworm from a variety of places and circumstances. The greatest risk factor is coming in contact with an affected individual. Warm, moist areas are favorable conditions for the growth of fungi, so areas such as communal showers and locker rooms are areas in which transmission is favorable. However, any contact with an infected person or a contaminated surface can cause ringworm infection.
What types of ringworm are there? What are ringworm symptoms and signs?
The following are the different types of ringworm, or tinea:
Tinea barbae: Ringworm of the bearded area of the face and neck, with swelling and marked crusting, is often accompanied by itching, sometimes causing the hair to break off. In the days when men went to the barber daily for a shave, tinea barbae was called barber’s itch.
Tinea capitis: Ringworm of the scalp commonly affects children, mostly in late childhood or adolescence. This condition may spread in schools. Tinea capitis appears as scalp scaling that is associated with bald spots (in contrast to seborrhea or dandruff, for instance, which do not cause hair loss
