Ringworm is a fungi that almost all mammals can get. It is highly contagious and can be easily transmitted from one pet, animal or human to another. It is described as Ringworm because it has an outer line in the shape of a ring around the infected area. Sometimes this ring can be distorted because of how it spreads. The worm part comes from before they knew it was a fungi.
Ringworm can be transfered from one animal to another in both direct and indirect contact. Ringworm can survive for days in moist areas of the the house such as the bathrooms. Ringworm is only no longer contagious after it has either been successfully fought off or treated.
Ringworm can live on mammal's skins, soil, and moist areas. They use spores to grow and spread. The spores are located on top of the skin and are the easiest to treat. Once eliminated the ringworm can not spread. However, the actual fungi lives under the skin and is harder to treat.
Once infected, Ringworm will spread over the body, if one part of the body touches the infected area, the new part of the body will be infected as well. This is bad because of indirect contact. Serious caution should be taken when the fungi gets in or around any opening into the body as this will cause swelling.
The body can naturally fight off and become immune to ringworm but this process takes several months during which time the patient is still highly contagious and the fungi will continue to spread.
Treatment for Ringworm is over the counter.. Athletes Foot is just another term for Ringworm. Any athletes foot cream will get rid of it. Keep in mind it takes 1 and half to two weeks to start to see effects. Treatments should be applied twice a day. IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED to finish the entire bottle even if the RingWorm has disappeared. Once treatment stops, any micoscoic batch will grow spores and start to spread again during which the treatment will have to start from ground 0 and you will have to wait 2 weeks again to see results.
My family got Ringworm once (dogs too) and I was unlucky enough to get it under my eye which is why I know so much about it. Hope this helps.. I didn't actually read the original trend