Ringworm is contagious and can spread in the following ways:

• Human to human. Ringworm often spreads through direct skin-to-skin contact with an infected person.
• Object to human. Ringworm can spread through contact with objects or surfaces that an infected person or animal has touched, such as clothing, towels, bed linens, combs or brushes.
• Animal to human. Dogs and cats, especially puppies and kittens, are often carriers of ringworm. Other animals that are often carriers of the fungi include cows, goats, pigs and horses. Your child can contract ringworm by grooming or petting an animal with ringworm.

• It can occur on the scalp (rarely on eyelashes and eyebrows) known as Tinea capitis by a fungus called Trichophyton tonsurans where the hair follicle gets infected.

• It can occur on the beard area of face/neck called tinea barbae.

It can also occurs in hands and is called tinea manuum. It can be mistaken for eczema, it can also occur on the feet, please see ‘The infection Service’ for further information  (we have shown these images for illustration purposes).

The hand has very tough skin , however if the skin is broken the fungus (dermophytes) enters the upper layers of skin by feeding on keratin (they produce a special enzyme called keratinases).

• This enzyme digests the keratin protein that makes the skin strong.
• This allows the fungi to grow on the skin and spread, causing a rash to appear.

It is normally spread by:

• Already having a fungal infection somewhere else on the body, i.e picking the infection and/or touching the infection and/or not washing hands and thoroughly drying.
• Touching the skin of someone else who has a fungal infection, for example, while playing sports or having sex.
• Using a well-used public shower, such as in a gym (the fungus lives in moist conditions)
• Sweating excessively or having another skin condition (the fungus like to live in moist conditions and if the skin is broken , the fungus can enter the skin.
• Regularly touching pets with the hands and/or handling livestock
• Working as a gardener and/or farmer, handling soil or tools that have been covered in soil