[5] Prevention is by keeping the skin dry, not walking barefoot in public, and not sharing personal items.

The disease patterns below identify the type of fungus that causes them only in the cases listed: Infections on the body may give rise to typical enlarging raised red rings of ringworm.

Infection on the skin of the feet may cause athlete's foot and in the groin, jock itch.

Specific signs can be: Fungi thrive in moist, warm areas, such as locker rooms, tanning beds, swimming pools, and skin folds; accordingly, those that cause dermatophytosis may be spread by using exercise machines that have not been disinfected after use, or by sharing towels, clothing, footwear, or hairbrushes.

Dermatophyte infections can be readily diagnosed based on the history, physical examination, and potassium hydroxide (KOH) microscopy.

For horses, dogs and cats there is available an approved inactivated vaccine called Insol Dermatophyton (Boehringer Ingelheim) which provides time-limited protection against several trichophyton and microsporum fungal strains.

In Scandinavian countries vaccination programmes against ringworm are used as a preventive measure to improve the hide quality.

[15] Antifungal treatments include topical agents such as miconazole, terbinafine, clotrimazole, ketoconazole, or tolnaftate applied twice daily until symptoms resolve — usually within one or two weeks.

[20] In more severe cases or scalp ringworm, systemic treatment with oral medications (such as itraconazole, terbinafine, and ketoconazole) may be given.

[21] To prevent spreading the infection, lesions should not be touched, and good hygiene maintained with washing of hands and the body.

[22] Misdiagnosis and treatment of ringworm with a topical steroid, a standard treatment of the superficially similar pityriasis rosea, can result in tinea incognito, a condition where ringworm fungus grows without typical features, such as a distinctive raised border.

[citation needed] Dermatophytosis has been prevalent since before 1906, at which time ringworm was treated with compounds of mercury or sometimes sulfur or iodine.

[24] The most common term for the infection, "ringworm", is a misnomer, since the condition is caused by fungi of several different species and not by parasitic worms.

[26] Dermatophytosis may also be present in the holotype of the Cretaceous eutriconodont mammal Spinolestes, suggesting a Mesozoic origin for this disease.

Circular bare patches on the skin suggest the diagnosis, but no lesion is truly specific to the fungus.

Twice-weekly bathing of the pet with diluted lime sulfur dip solution is effective in eradicating fungal spores.

[31][33] Onychomycosis, a common infection caused by dermatophytes, is found with varying prevalence rates in many countries.

[31] The increasing prevalence of dermatophytes resulting in Tinea capitis has been causing epidemics throughout Europe and America.

[35] For dermatophytosis in animals, risk factors depend on age, species, breed, underlying conditions, stress, grooming, and injuries.

[35] Numerous studies have found Tinea capitis to be the most prevalent dermatophyte to infect children across the continent of Africa.

[33] The prevalence of dermatophytosis in India is between 36.6 and 78.4% depending on the area, clinical subtype, and dermatophyte isolate.