CDC Reports America’s First Cases of Drug-Resistant Ringworm

CDC Reports America’s First Cases of Drug-Resistant Ringworm

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported the country’s first known cases of drug-resistant ringworm.

Ringworm is a highly contagious infection of the skin, hair or nails typically treated with antifungal medications. This particular treatment-resistant strain emerged in South Asia.

Two NYC women with no known links reported experiencing symptoms in 2021 and 2022.

One of the patients, an unidentified 28-year-old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy, had not traveled internationally, nor come in contact with anyone who had a similar rash, suggesting there is some community spread of this infection in America.

The first identified patient had traveled internationally before getting an infection that did not respond to traditional anti-fungal treatments.

The infection was first identified in a 47-year-old woman who had developed a bad case of ringworm, also known as tinea, while traveling in Bangladesh.

A rash had erupted across most of her body and typical antifungal creams did nothing to alleviate it.

“My radar went up immediately,” said Dr. Avrom Caplan, an assistant professor of dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who treated the patient and was one of the report’s authors.

Scientists indicate this development indicates substantial epidemiological changes within the fungal species responsible for ringworm.

Dr. Priya Soni, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said it’s impressive that physicians were able to get the species identified with the help of their public health department.

Because one of the patients had no history of travel to any area that has seen cases, she said, it’s a real signal that there’s been some epidemiological changes within the fungal species.

“It may also be a little more widespread than we have noted before, so for physicians and other providers, I think it’s important to be aware that we may be seeing more of this particular species as we go into the warmer, moist summer months,” said Soni, who was not involved with either new case. “I think with globalization and just the travel that we’re going to see over the summer, this may be something that we may see more of as the months go on.”

Of course, “experts” quickly tie every new trouble back to climate change.

“It may also be a little more widespread than we have noted before,” Dr. Priya Soni of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center told CNN. “I think it’s important to be aware that we may be seeing more of this particular species as we go into the warmer, moist summer months.” Other fungal infections, like Candida auris, have also begun to make an appearance, likely because of climate change.

“Any kind of ringworm really flourishes in the warm, moist weather,” Soni continued. “I think with globalization and just the travel that we’re going to see over the summer, this may be something that we may see more of as the months go on.”

However, I assert that if this superfungus spreads, and I think it will, the escalating rates of homelessness will be a contributing factor. In fact, a study released this year confirms the homeless are at increased risk for skin diseases.

Homeless and unhoused individuals experience a strong association with dermatologic skin disorders.

. . . . At the conclusion of the study, researchers found a strong association between homelessness and prescribed medications for those skin conditions. They found that homelessness could be associated with increased IRRs for prescriptions such as antihistamines, antivirals, and scabies treatments.

Researchers also determined that homeless individuals were at a higher risk of skin disorder diagnoses in non-dermatological and emergency room settings.

Additionally, they found that the higher the amount of homeless shelter contacts/visits an individual made,the higher the risk of a skin condition diagnosis —even more so during their first year unhoused.

Given the weakness of our border, the lack of will to address the challenges of the mentally ill in our cities, and the state of our public health system, I suspect the super-ringworm will be here to stay.

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