A new study hasrevealed that an emerging fungus that causes a difficult-to-treat ringworm infection, called Trichophyton indotineae, is spreading rapidly around the world, with a notable increase in its detection since 2022.
This fungus is known to cause more severe cases of ringworm that are often resistant to common drugs, according to the study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Ringworm is not worms, but rather a general term for a fungal infection that leaves a circular rash, and has different names depending on the location of the infection, such as "jock itch" (or what is known as "tinea cruris") in the genital area and the well-known "athlete's foot".
Ringworm is usually transmitted through direct skin contact or contact with contaminated surfaces such as wet bathroom floors or shared towels.
There are around 40 different types of fungi that can cause ringworm, but T. indotineae, which was recently discovered, has become one of the most concerning. It causes severe, drug-resistant infections and appears to be spreading at an alarming rate, particularly in parts of the world like India. Researchers wanted a clearer picture of its spread, so they used data from the Mass Spectrometry Identification (MSI) project, hosted by the Parasitology and Mycology Laboratory at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in France. This project allows diagnostic laboratories to send patient samples to a single database containing a reference library of around 1,700 fungal species.
Researchers examined samples submitted by over 500 MSI users in 54 countries between 2022 and 2025 and found that T. indotineae was identified in 29 countries, with the majority of reports coming from European countries. The number of discoveries tripled between 2022 and 2025, and the percentage of identified fungi within the genus Trichophyton increased from 1.2% to 3.6% by 2025.
Despite these results, the study cannot tell us the number of infected people worldwide, only that the laboratories participating in the project are monitoring it frequently. Furthermore, mass spectrometry equipment is not common in some regions, such as Africa, and there are few MSI users in other regions, such as Southeast Asia, meaning we don't know much about the fungus's spread in these areas.
But the results confirm that T. indotineae is moving on a global scale, and show the usefulness of the MSI project in tracking emerging fungi.
Some doctors have already used MSI to confirm the arrival of the fungus in new countries such as Hungary and Brazil.
Researchers warn that T. indotineae is not the only growing problem in ringworm, as scientists are sounding the alarm about another different but related fungus that is spread mainly through sexual contact and can cause a painful infection. T. indotineae can also be sexually transmitted.
The researchers are calling on microbiology laboratories to use MSI to identify dermatophytes, and are urging health authorities to address this rapidly evolving international problem.
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