The first two known cases of an antifungal-resistant ringworm have been reported in the United States amid "an epidemic" in South Asia, CBS News reports.
The skin infection tinea, better known as ringworm, was reported among two female patients in New York City believed to have shared no links to each other, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last Thursday (May 12) in a news release. The federal agency identified the women as Patient A and Patient B and said New York City health officials were notified of the cases on February 28, 2023.
"Patient A, a woman aged 28 years, developed a widespread pruritic eruption during summer 2021. She had a first dermatologic evaluation in December 2021, at which time she was in her third trimester of pregnancy. She had no other underlying medical conditions, no known exposures to a person with similar rash, and no recent international travel history," the CDC wrote.
"Patient B, a woman aged 47 years with no major medical conditions, developed a widespread, pruritic eruption in summer 2022 while in Bangladesh," the agency continued. "There, she received treatment with topical antifungal and steroid combination creams and noted that several family members were experiencing similar eruptions. After returning to the United States, she visited an emergency department three times during autumn 2022."
Ringworm is a common and very contagious infection of the skin caused by fungi. The disease has spawned a treatment-resistant strain in South Asia during the past decade, bringing on increased cases that resulted in what's considered to be "an epidemic."
The CDC characterized the Tinea indotineae infections as "widespread, inflamed, pruritic plaques," or rashes with lesions that can appear on the face, body, thigh, crease of the thigh and pubic region, but don't respond to terbinafine, a medication used to treat most other tinea cases. Treatment-resistant cases outside of Asia were previously reported in Europe and Canada prior to the two diagnoses in New York.