(Synonym: Tokelau Ringworm.)

What is tinea imbricata?

A vegetable parasitic disease of moist tropical countries, characterized by the formation of patches composed of concentrically arranged, imbricated, scaly rings. It may begin at one or several points as a brownish, slightly raised spot, spreading peripherally; the renewed epidermis of the central part of the patch goes again through the same process; the result is a small or large area of concentrically arranged, imbricated, slightly scaly eruption. Several such areas fusing together may cover a large part of the surface, the ring-like arrangement being sometimes more or less completely lost. The malady is chronic. There may be a variable degree of itching. The cause of the disease, which is of a contagious nature, is a vegetable parasite closely similar to the trichophyton. The treatment is by the parasiticides, being essentially the same, in fact, as ringworm.