Nigel,

You are right about the mat to person transmission, but you don't have to get so fanatical. I am a P.A. and I deal with this everyday at work, at home, at practice, in the Bronze Clinics, etc. etc. etc. YOU CAN AND WILL GET RINGWORM FROM A MAT THAT IS NOT CLEANED PROPERLY. We borrowed a mat once that had ringworm and we had never had a problem because the HS coach cleans the mat, then we clean it before kids club again. We actually had people get ringworm from the infected mat just by sitting on it rolled up in our room. Simple ringworm on the skin, no hair involved can be treated with antifungal cream, twice a day for about two weeks. Keep it covered at practice or contact sports. If it is in your hair you actually get a triple therapy from me, nizoral shampoo, grifulvin-the oral med, and a lotion for the scalp. It takes one to two months to treat tinea capitus(ringworm of the scalp). Once you have been on meds for 48 hours you are good to go back to practice but the HS skin form says 5 days. Also, the most important thing is to treat the infection completely so it doesn't keep coming back. I have actually used oral meds for prevention at times of big tourneys when there has been a problem in the room or at a tourney we are going to but it is not a medication without risk. I doubt the Dr. in question was very familiar with wrestling and was trained to be afraid of the oral meds. It does help to have a medical provider that is knowledgable of your sport and its problems. I have picked up a few patients because they are aware of the fact that I know wrestling so well. Ok, that's all so my two cents. Have a great day!

Ms. Jenni