Health professionals have warned that "the world is not prepared" after two women were confirmed to have been infected with a new highly contagious fungal disease. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the patients from the United States, aged 28 and 47, tested positive for the ringworm, also known as tinea, reports the Mirror.
The pair suffered from lesions on their neck, buttocks, thighs and abdomen and family members also had symptoms too. Professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health at the University of Manchester, David Denning, revealed the infection is now thought to be spreading across countries.
He said: “Skin fungal infections are transmitted from one person to another in schools, homes and with intimate contact. This new terbinafine-resistant fungus is a new species called Trichophyton indotineae and first identified in India. The huge Indian diaspora has already seen this fungus spread to other countries including Canada and Germany, and now the USA."
