A new strain of drug-resistant fungus that causes ringworm has been found in New Zealand and scientists are warning doctors to look out for "suspicious infections".
Dermatophytosis, or ringworm, is one of the most common fungal infections worldwide, caused by fungi called dermatophytes infecting skin, hair and nails.
A strain of dermatophyte - trichophyton indotineae- that is often resistant to treatment has been spreading globally and has now reached Aotearoa, a study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal has found.
"We alert those seeing patients with suspicious infections to get cultures and order full identification so patients can be managed appropriately," it said.
Researchers analysed 961 dermatophyte samples taken between January 2017 and August 2024 from a range of hospital and community laboratories.
They found 85 confirmed or probable cases of the strain from 63 patients, most of whom were infected in the groin, thighs, feet and arms.
Terbinafine is the most common treatment for ringworm, but it did not work on more than a third of the 85 cases, the study found.
Instead itraconazole was the best treatment, clearing up 92% of cases.
The researchers were planning a more in-depth analysis, but in the meantime they warned GPs to look out for cases of "long-standing" infections especially in people from India and South Asia, where there have been large outbreaks.
Those cases should be treated with itraconazole for up to 12 weeks, it said.
