This affection occurs in crowded places like boarding schools, nursing centers, and also affects children who have a problem in their immune system (AIDS, cancer, diabetes).

The fungi which cause ringworm in humans can also be found in pets and in soil. The fungi spores can be easily transmitted to others as they can be found on a fallen infected hair, on brushes, combs, hats, bedding and clothes. If the person who gets in contact with such a contaminated object also has a minor injure on the scalp the infection will most probably produce. The spores will infiltrate the scalp and will feed with the tissue's keratin.

If the scalp gets affected by ringworm, certain symptoms will appear. These symptoms are: the lesion on the scalp will get red, will form a crust, and then it will scale. Itching is also present. Eventually the in the affected area the hair will fall. Also, the local lymph nodes will get swollen, but this can also happen in other types of ringworm infections.

The black dot ringworm causes infections within the hair shaft. The hair will break easily and the remains on the surface of the scalp will look like black dots.

In the 1940 and 1950's in US the gray patch ringworm affected a lot of people. The symptoms were: small, red bumps around the hair shaft in the beginning, which will transform into scaly and circular "rings". Also, the hair in that area will become gray and dull and will break off easily. The infected area is quite itchy.

The inflammatory ringworm can also be provided by animals or contaminated soil. This disease causes small pustules or abscesses, fever, pain, and itchiness. Sometimes the loss of hair is permanent.

Medical help is needed as this infection does not go away by itself. The doctor will examine the scalp and will look for scaling or areas of hair loss in order to diagnose ringworm. A special lamp which gives ultraviolet light will show a blue-green fluorescent band that this species leaves on the scalp. Also, a culture and scrapings are also useful in diagnosing ringworm.

In order to collect tissue samples the doctor will scrap the scalp with a surgical blade and will remove the hair from that area. A toothbrush will be then run on the scalp for collecting hair and scales. The collected tissues will be then treated will a 10-15% solution of KOH and then the slide is placed under a microscope to search for fungal spores.