The term ringworm might cause confusion to readers who haven’t suffered from it before. Ringworm is fungal infection on human and animals skin due to infection. So, ringworm is not a condition or infection caused by worms. Also, ringworm is the common word used among people but the real name of this infection is dermatophytosis. The fungi that cause ringworm evolve on warm and humid skin. It happens mostly to athletes or among sporty people with a lot of skin contact. On animals, it evolves on skin and among hair.

Type of Fungus and Disease Patterns

The fungus infection can thrive in certain spot with different type or classification of fungus itself which cause ringworm:

1. Tinea pedis

It is also known as tinea pedum or moccasin foot. It occurs to athlete’s foot or feet which cause scaling and itching on the infected areas. This disease can be carried out by walking barefoot or inside warm spots such as shoes. This has to be a concern for athlete and shoe lovers to regularly change their socks and dry out the shoes under sun exposure. Never force yourself to wear wet shoes and kindly use topical antifungal drugs as long as you think it necessarily needed. It is the best home remedies for ringworm.

2. Tinea corporis

It is also known as tinea glabrosa. It evolves on legs and arms parts particularly on hairy skin. The normal appearance that you can see and feel is scaly skin and hair loss on the infected area. In tropical countries, this will likely happen more due to warmness and humidity. The causes and factors come in many ways. First, the sufferer lives in a crowded and humid environment. Second, the sufferer wears tight clothes too often in humid environment. Third, the sufferer sweats excessively and rarely changes his clothes immediately. Forth, the sufferer is a sports lover, particularly close contact sports such as wrestling and rugby. So, the best home remedies for ringworm in this case is never forget to wash hand after contacting with animals, plants, and soil. Wear a bit loose clothes and prepare extra clothes in your bag when you start sweating excessively. You could bring along a talk powder as well.

3. Tinea cruris

It is also known as crotch rot, gym itch, jock rot, or scrot rot. The fungi evolve on groin areas, no matter what sex you are. So far it happens most to men and it has to do with tinea pedis. When the fungi incubate on feet areas, it can spread to groin areas due to tight and restrictive clothes. The infected area can come in red, brown, or tan color along with peeling or rippling skin. The best home remedies for ringworm in this case is similar to tinea corporis prevention.

4. Tinea barbae

It is also known as ringworm of the beard or tinea sycosis. The infection occurs on hairy area such as beard and it mostly occurs to men who work in agricultural field. The transmission can possibly come from animal to human or human to human.

5. Tinea manuum

It is also known as tinea manus. This infection takes place on hands and it is possibly more aggressive than tinea pedis because the sufferer tends to scratch hands more often than scratch feet. To reduce the infection, treating it with topical antifungal medication is necessarily needed.

6. Tinea capitis

It is also known as ringworm of the hair, tinea tonsurans, or ringworm of the scalp. It can appear in single or multiple patches of hair loss along with black dots. The other effects are itching, pustules, and inflammation. Normally it rarely occurs to adults, it is primarily seen in children, mostly pre-pubertal ones and more occurs to boys than girls. To treat this infection, oral medication is needed and luckily it is safe and inexpensive. It is called griseofulvin. The other fungi infection just needs topical antifungal cream but for tinea capitis, oral medication is preferred. When the sufferer takes the medicine, the drugs will penetrate to the hair shaft. This is where the fungus lives.

Classes of Antifungal Medication

1. Polyene antifungal treatment

It works well to reduce the hydrophobic chain. On the other side, it ties up cholesterol and it is considered as toxic to animals.

2. Imidazole, triazole, and thiazole antifungal treatment

The enzyme that contains in them is useful to change lanosterol to ergosterol. The decimation of ergosterol helps to disrupt fungal membrane and many possibilities of fungal parts to evolve and incubate.

The antifungal drugs work to kill fungal organism. However, fungal has similarity with human from the point of biological level. In result, the topical antifungal cream likely cause side effect to human skin due to difficulty to find drugs that can target the fungi right away.

Catching and Getting Rid of Ringworm from Your Pets

As it was mentioned before that ringworm doesn’t only happen to human but also animals. The transmission can be from animal to human or human to human. Ringworm is also one of the examples of zoonotic disease which is carried by animals and can be transmitted to other animals and human. Dogs are commonly suffered from ringworm due to humid and warm environment. Dogs with lots of hair such as golden retriever have more risk to suffer ringworm. So, before buying a pet, kindly consider whether or not you are capable to take care of it because it can affect your family members as well, especially your kids. They love dogs and won’t realize when their beloved pet has a disease. Same as human, topical medication both antifungal cream or oral medication is recommended. When the animal doesn’t respond well to topical antifungal cream, then oral medication will be the last way of treatment. After your pet is free from ringworm, disinfect your home as soon as possible to prevent and get rid of remaining fungal spores. Never forget to pay attention on hygiene all the time. That is all about home remedies for ringworm.