LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ringworm: Skin
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Ringworm is a fungus infection of the scalp or skin. Symptoms include a rash that is often itchy and flaky. Ringworm on the scalp may leave a flaky patch of baldness. On other areas of the skin, ringworm causes a reddish, ringlike rash that may itch or burn. The area may be dry and scaly or it may be moist or crusted. The same fungi that infect humans can ... infect animals such as dogs and cats, and infections may be acquired from pets as well as from infected children.
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Ringworm is not an actual worm. Ring Worm is a skin disease producing round scaly patches on the skin, caused by a fungus. In this communicable disease, transmission can occur through skin-to-skin contact with infected individuals and or infected pets. Ringworm is a superficial skin infection... known as tinea, tinea capitis, tinea corporis, tinea pedis, tinea cruris, tinea faciei, and tinea versicolor. Ringworm (or tinea corporis) is a common fungal infection resulting from dermatophytes, which are microscopic organisms that live off the dead outer layer of skin. Ringworm is characterized by a red ring of small blisters, or a red ring of scaly skin that will grow outward as the infection worsens.
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Ringworm is mildly contagious. Ringworm is ... a common infection in domestic animals, especially farm animals, dogs and cats and even small pets like hamsters or guinea pigs. Humans can contract ringworm from these animals as humans are in close contact with them. Chickens may also be a source, due to the dirty conditions in which many poultry must live in which ringworm may thrive. Ringworm can also be caught from other humans, both by direct contact and by prolonged contact with flakes of shed skin (from sharing clothes or from house dust, for instance).
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Ringworm causes a ring-shaped rash, but it is definitely not a live worm crawling under the skin. Instead, it's a funguslike organism that causes a limited circular scaly lesion with an even scalier edge. The lesion usually grows slowly to no more than a few inches in diameter. The discomfort is minor and external: a slight itching. Ringworm can sometimes be confused with simple dryness of the skin. It is mildly contagious; kids scratch the lesions and then contaminate their friends by touching them with fingers that harbor the fungus under the nails.
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Ringworm is a skin infection caused by a fungus. Ringworm can affect skin on your body (tinea corporis), scalp (tinea capitis), groin area (tinea cruris... called jock itch), or feet. Ringworm is a skin and scalp disease caused by several different kinds of fungi. Ringworm on the scalp usually makes a bald patch of scaly skin. People with ringworm on other parts of their skin can have a ring-shaped rash that is reddish and may be itchy. The rash can be dry and scaly or wet and crusty.
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Ringworm fungus does not penetrate normal skin. The fungus spores are passed into a scratch or scrape on the same or different animal. The usual source is a carrier pet that shows no signs of the disease. Not all pets in a household that are exposed to ringworm develop the disease. Some pets never become infected while others do become infected but develop no overt signs of the disease. Some of these animals go on to become silent carriers that spread the disease to others.
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