• Barefoot babies
• Parasites from going barefoot?
• More Advice about Feet

Barefoot babies

I notice lots of moms in public carry their babies barefoot with their infant's bare feet dangling out of snugglies, regardless if it's really chilly outside. I cringe when I see the baby's feet red due to the cold weather but can't help noticing the moms do dress appropriately for the weather. Why don't they cover the babies feet? I hesitate to say anything because I don't want to offend, but I can't help hoping the infant's feet will be covered with something warm. Is it a cultural thing? I'm from a different culture and hope someone can provide me with better understanding. Thank you curious

Parasites from going barefoot?

I am asking this question as a favor to my mother, who is obsessed with the fact that I let my 5 yr.old daughter go barefoot as much as she wants. Unless there clearly is glass, nails, dog poop, etc., on the ground (or a good possibility), I let her walk from a parking lot to a curb if she doesn't want to put on her shoes, and things like that. My mom is sure that she's going to pick up some strange parasite and remembers reading an article in the New York Times. Does anyone have any comments? Stephanie

Also, there is the danger of glass. I never minded my children going barefoot anywhere except on sidewalks. But I had a child who insisted on running barefoot down the sidewalk despite my warnings to walk, and to look. He stepped on a big piece of glass and after that he never ran down the sidewalk barefooted! Ginger

Here is some additional information from the web:

Dr. Afzal A. Siddiqui, a parasitologist at ETSU, is studying a roundworm indigenous to US soils. The roundworm, Strongyloides stercoralis, lives within the soil and can enter the human body through a person'sbare feet. "Strongyloides can live inside a human body for 30-40 years and that person might never even know," Siddiqui said. [...]

Strongyloidiasis, a disease caused by the parasite that bears its name, is very easy to treat, he added. It also is one of the most difficult parasitic diseases to diagnose.

"Treating it is not the problem," Siddiqui said. "Finding out if the Strongyloides are actually in the body is our greatest challenge."

From a UCSB Parasitology lecture:

Although still common in some parts of Appalachia (and the southern US), hookworm is uncommon in the US. However, it is a problem in approximately 2 billion people in many parts of the world, particularly in India. A related nematode is the dog hookworm, Ancyclostoma caninum. This is present world wide and in Santa Barbara. It is easy for your dog to get because all dogs walk around barefoot and don't use toilets. If a larval dog hookworm encounters a bare human foot, the larvae penetrate but don't successfully get into the circulatory system. Instead, they wander around in the skin for weeks or months, leaving a track of inflamed, itching skin. This symptom is called cutaneous larval migrans. Toxocara canis is not a hookworm but it is a parasite of dogs and cats that causes a related pathology. In this case, larval worms are able to get past the skin and wander around in the human's tissues causing substantial pathology. This is known as Visceral larval migrans. It is highly prevalent in children but also in epileptics, the mentally retarded and institutionalized, suggesting that the behavior of these people contribute to their risk of infection but also suggesting the possibility that Toxocara can lead to these types of serious mental conditions. If you own a dog, it is irresponsible to let it defectae in areas where people like to go barefoot such as in parks or at the beach.

Sporotrichosis -- requires a skin break

This disease is a well known and cosmopolitan disease caused by Sporothrix schenckii (Deuteromycetes). Infection, again, occurs through a break in the skin of the foot, inoculated by a thorn or other sharp object. The fungus [...] has been successfully treated with potassium iodide (KI) since 1903.

Now, some people with a serious SLANT on their website are the Barefooters
(www.barefooters.org), who don't mention the above roundworm at all in
their "disease" section (which follows):

Q13: 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.

     [ Full text: http://www.aad.org/aadpamphrework/AthletFoot.html ]

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.

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.)