I know I’m not the only person to say this, but I can’t stand other people’s feet!
They are fine when they are in shoes, but bare feet – yuck, keep them away from me.
Now I have been vindicated. A report in the BBC this week confirmed our feet are home to more than 100 different types of fungi.
Scientists have discovered just how disgusting our feet really are. Fungi loves to live on our heels, under our toenails and between our toes. It makes me cringe just thinking about it.
Lead researcher Dr Julia Segre told the BBC: “The bottom line is your feet are teeming with fungal diversity, so wear your flip flops in locker rooms if you don’t want to mix your foot fungi with someone else’s fungi.”
Scientists from the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, took samples from all over the bodies of volunteers. This included swabs from between the toes and toenail clippings. What a horrible job!
The researchers also found that 20% of the volunteers had fungal infections, caused when the fungi begins to multiply. Common infections include athlete’s foot, ringworm and yeast infections.
Fungal expert Dr Paul Dyer of Nottingham University, explained in the report that fungi is not normally harmful on the body.
He added: “It illustrates the tremendous diversity of fungi that grow on the human body. This is much higher than we previously knew.”
So, I’m right not to touch other people’s feet. I’m also going to be washing mine a lot more thoroughly in the future!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22622689