11 What about catching diseases?
Description
This article is from the Living Barefoot FAQ, by Paul J. Lucas with numerous contributions by others.
11 What about catching diseases?
_Athlete's Foot (fungus):_
The following is an excerpt from a pamphlet on Athlete's Foot
by the _American Academy of Dermatology, April 1994_:
Athlete's foot does not occur among people who
traditionally go barefoot. It's moisture,
sweating and lack of proper ventilation of the
feet that present the perfect setting for the
fungus of athlete's foot to grow.
Therefore, by going barefoot, the perspiration from your feet
evaporates just like it does from the rest of your body; your
feet then remain cool and dry in the open air. The fungus can
not survive under these conditions. As a result, going barefoot
will most likely _cure_ athlete's foot.
Additional text from the pamphlet can be obtained at the URL:
http://www.aad.org/AthletFoot.html
_Hookworm (parasite):_
This is almost entirely confined to tropical, third-world
countries where people habitually walk in soil contaminated by
the excrement of infected humans and domestic animals. In the
1940s, hookworm occurred in some regions of the southern USA
but has largely disappeared even there thanks to improved
sanitation. The chance of getting hookworm from barefoot hiking
on trails in a temperate region such as North America or Europe
is very small. Hookworm is easily treatable with vermifuges
such as tetrachloroethylene: its prevalence in tropical regions
is largely a matter of public health, due to poor sanitation
and lack of access to medical facilities.
_Ringworm (fungus: this has nothing to do with worms -- it's a
misnomer):_
The same text about Athlete's Foot applies for Ringworm.
Additionally, one can get it anywhere on one's body.
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