1st U.S. case of rare ringworm, usually spread via sex, found in NYC — but don't panic

A rare fungal infection that’s been circulating for years in Europe, typically through sexual contact, has made its way to New York City, according to researchers with NYU Langone Health.

It’s believed to be the first reported case of what the researchers called a “highly contagious” form of ringworm or jock itch in the United States. But health officials say there’s no indication right now of further spread.

The researchers published a case study in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week about a man in his 30s who was treated for itchy red lesions on his penis and buttocks earlier this year after traveling to Europe and California. He said he’d had multiple male sexual partners while traveling, although none had similar infections.

The Wadsworth Center, a lab run by the state Department of Health, was able to confirm the patient had a form of ringworm called trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII, or TMVII.

Patrick Gallahue, a spokesperson for the city health department, said the condition is still too uncommon to make the list of diseases that must be reported to the agency. A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health aid cases of ringworm are not reportable to that agency either, so it has no information on the number of individual cases beyond the one the Wadsworth Center helped to identify.

But NYU Langone researchers are advising local doctors to ask their patients about potential symptoms.

“It can be very itchy and scaly, like typical ringworm, but it also has the potential to be more inflammatory and cause abscesses and scarring,” said Dr. Avrom Caplan, a dermatologist at NYU Langone who worked on the study. He noted that lesions can also show up on other parts of the body. The researchers say a rash from TMVII can take months to clear up, even with treatment.

TMVII is similar to other forms of trichophyton mentagrophytes typically associated with athlete’s foot or scalp rashes.

The fungal infection has previously shown up – albeit in low numbers – in France and other parts of Europe, primarily among men who have sex with men. Researchers identified 13 cases in Paris in 2021 and 2022, and another 50 or so were reported in Europe between 2014 and 2019, according to a paper published last year in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The news of a confirmed TMVII case in New York City comes at a time when men who have sex with men are already at heightened risk for mpox, a virus that can also be spread through intimate contact and cause a painful rash. But while immunocompromised patients with mpox have been hospitalized or died in rare cases during the latest outbreak, TMVII is just a “superficial skin infection,” Caplan said.

Caplan said this TMVII is not likely to cause further health complications and can be treated with antifungal medication, but added that it can be serious in terms of its “impact on quality of life and the potential to spread it to other people.”

So far, there’s no evidence the infection is spreading in the United States, Caplan said.

This story has been updated to reflect a statement from the New York State Department of Health.