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Ringworm is caused by several different microscopic organisms belonging to a group called “dermatophytes”. This family of fungus leave on the outer side of the human skin called the hypodermis. These Dermphytes can cause ringworms in several parts of the body include scalp, body, nails and feet. These ringworm causing fungi thrive on places which remain warm and moist. Hence places like groin, feet and underarm are more prone to a ringworm attack than other places of the body. Also normally Ringworm tends to enter the body through a break in the skin, such as a scratch, cut, or broken skin due to eczema.
Diagnosis of
Ringworm is normally very easy as it shows several characteristic
symptoms
Normally ringworms shows ring like structure on the surface of the infected region .however the ring is not exactly a circle and it takes irregular shapes. As the ringworm is caused by fungus and it is highly communicable so it can affect many areas at a time. Hence most likely you can see the rings at many places of the body at a time. for example you can have ring formation at many places at a single time including your scalp (Tinea capitis), groin area (Tinea cruris ), or feet (Tinea pedis or athlete's
foot). initially the rash is in the form of a dry raised patch that appears red and feels itchy . The inner areas look pale while the outer ring is red in color and quite scaly. Ringworm normally becomes visible within ten to fifteen days of infection.
However the most comprehensive diagnosis treatment is laboratory analysis as ring worm like symptoms are shown by several other fungal infections. Take the sample of the scaly layers from the infected region and put it into a solution of potassium hydroxide solutions. Now heat the solution gently so that the skin gets melted but the fungus cells don’t. If it is actually infected by ring worm you can actually see the fungal cells using a microscope. Also sometimes it might happen that the skin has a probability for ringworm but it is still not infected though. In order to determine this probability the skin should be
cultured in a suitable medium and checked for future probable ringworm infection. |
