Published on
15/06/2026 - 19:08 GMT+2
According to a study published (source in French) by a team of epidemiologists from the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL) in the US journal Emerging Infectious Diseases in early June, dermatophilosis may have been transmitted from human to human through sexual contact.
Also known as “mud fever”, this bacterial zoonosis, rare in humans, had until now only been observed in farmers or riders in contact with infected horses or cattle.
Around forty cases in France and Spain, including about thirty in Lyon, were recorded between January and June. The published study focused on nine patients who came to HCL for consultations. Seven of them reported having had sexual intercourse in gay saunas in Lyon, sometimes the same ones, in the days preceding the onset of lesions.
