Animal Ringworm: Fungal Infection from Your Pets

Ringworm is a type of fungal infection that causes ring like appearance on the skin, which is accompanied by itching. It is very common in humans especially babies and small children. Nevertheless, animals are not immune to it. In fact, they can be the cause of some human contacts with the ringworm fungus. House pets are known to carry the funug spores inside households, and transmit it through contact or by dropping the spores on places that is frequented by the inhabitants. However, unlike the human form, ringworm infection in animals does not usually form a ring. Instead, the infection becomes apparent with hair loss, which comes in small patches at first. These patches tend to disappear after a while then resurfaces in other parts of the animal body. Constant scratching reveals the presence of itchiness.

There are different ringworm spores but the three that mostly infects house pets are Microsporum canis, Microsporum gypseum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Microsporum canis are mostly carried by cats. The spores cling to the hairs of the animals and longhaired varieties such as the Persian cat are particularly in danger of being carriers. Microsporum gypseum is also another species of the fungus and is found in both cats and dogs. These fungal organisms are frequently acquired from contaminated soil. Those pets that have ringworm infections on the face and feet indicate that they got it from digging on such soil. If your pets are exposed to rodents such as rats, the Trichophyton mentagrophytes variety of the ringworm fungus becomes the culprit for an infection. Even by just being exposed to the rodent’s borrow will cause your pets to be infected.

If your house pet happens to be a healthy cat and you are infected with ringworm, chances are it came from the animal. Cats develop immunity to the ringworm fungus, so they do not show any signs of infection even though they are carrying its spores. Stroking or combing its hair transmits these spores to you, which would possibly be the main cause of a skin infection. Failing to attend to the initial symptoms of the skin disease would lead to the full development of the ringworm.