how do you get ringworm

You get ringworm through direct contact with a microscopic fungus (not an actual worm) that feeds on the keratin in your skin, hair, and nails. Because these fungi thrive in warm, damp environments, the infection spreads easily in several ways.

Main Ways Ringworm Spreads

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mayo Clinic, you can catch ringworm through four primary routes:

• Person-to-person contact. It commonly spreads through direct skin-to-skin contact with someone who has an active infection, including during sexual contact or close-contact sports like wrestling.
• Animal-to-human contact. You can catch the fungus by petting, grooming, or handling an infected animal. Dogs and cats (especially puppies and kittens) frequently carry it, as do farm animals like cows, goats, pigs, and horses.
• Contaminated objects and surfaces. The fungus can linger on items an infected person or animal has touched, such as towels, bedsheets, clothing, hairbrushes, and sports gear. It also thrives on damp public surfaces like locker room floors, communal showers, and pool decks.
• Soil-to-human contact. In rare cases, you can pick up the fungus from prolonged skin contact with heavily infected soil while gardening or working outdoors.

Factors That Increase Your Risk

Certain habits and environments make it easier for the fungus to take hold on your skin:

• Warm, moist conditions. Sweating heavily, living in a humid climate, or wearing tight, non-breathable clothing creates an ideal environment for fungal growth.
• Walking barefoot in public. Going without shower shoes or sandals in shared spaces like gym locker rooms and public pools exposes your feet to the fungus (which causes athlete’s foot, a form of ringworm).
• A weakened immune system. People with autoimmune conditions or weakened immune systems are more likely to catch ringworm and have a harder time fighting it off.

Symptoms typically show up 4 to 14 days after your skin comes into contact with the fungus.