Latest York is home to the first known cases of antifungal-resistant ringworm in the US, in line with report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ringworm is a highly contagious infection of the skin, hair or nails, normally treated with antifungal medications. This particular treatment-resistant strain has emerged in South Asia.
Two Latest York women with no known connections reported symptoms in 2021 and 2022.
One of the patients, an unidentified 28-year-old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy, had not traveled abroad or been in contact with anyone who had an analogous rash, suggesting that this infection is spreading in America.
In keeping with the CDC, the woman visited her dermatologist in December 2021 after developing a rash that summer.
Doctors noted “large, ring-shaped, scaly, itchy plaques on the neck, abdomen, pubic area, and buttocks.”
The woman began taking terbinafine tablets (Lamisil is one brand) in January 2022 after giving birth to her baby.
When her condition didn’t improve after two weeks, she began taking itraconazole, a drug used to treat fungal infections.
The CDC reports that the patient’s rash “cleared completely” after completing a four-week course of itraconazole. The woman is being monitored for a possible reoccurrence of infection.
The second patient, a 47-year-old woman, developed a rash while in Bangladesh in the summer of 2022. Several members of her family in this country have reported similar rashes.
The woman was given topical antifungal and steroid creams by doctors in Bangladesh, but they didn’t help.
After returning to the US, the woman reportedly ended up in the emergency room thrice in the fall of 2022. Doctors gave her several creams – no improvement.
In December, dermatologists discovered a rash on her thighs and buttocks.
Her symptoms didn’t improve after 4 weeks of oral terbinafine.
Her condition eventually improved by about 80% after 4 weeks of taking griseofulvin, a drug often used to treat athlete’s foot and jock itch, in addition to athlete’s foot.
Doctors are exploring other treatment options as the woman’s son and husband are reportedly coping with similar infections.
Cases of this sort of ringworm initially appeared in patients in South Asia, but have since been reported in European countries.
The CDC is urging healthcare professionals to teach patients on tips on how to prevent ringworm from spreading. The agency also stressed the importance of not sharing clothes with someone who has a rash.