|
Foot Fungus
Foot Fungus Spreads Among Families
Study Confirms Common Assumption: and
Athlete's Foot Spread Within Close Quarters
Moms and football coaches had it
right all along. A new study confirms that foot infections like
athlete's foot and toenail fungus do spread from person to person
among families and probably others sharing close quarters.
Although it has been commonly thought
that athlete's foot and toenail fungus spread from person to person,
researchers say it's the first time they've been able to provide evidence
for it.
Using high-tech
molecular biology techniques, researchers were able to trace the
spread of the same tiny organisms, called dermatophytes, responsible for
the common foot infections within families.
"Doctors have never been able to caution
patients with certainty that toenail fungus or athlete's foot can spread
from one family member to another," says researcher Mahmoud Ghannoum, PhD,
of University Hospitals Case Medical Center, in a news release.
"What we can see from the current
findings is the value of treating toenail fungus and athlete's foot to try
to prevent its spread from person to person."
Foot Infections Spread Within
Families
Researchers say more than 35 million
people are affected by toenail fungus, which causes the affected toenails
to become discolored, brittle, thickened, and flaky.
The infection is known as tinea pedis,
and is caused by a group of tiny organisms called dermatophytes -- the
same fungus responsible for athlete's foot. That common foot infection
causes a
rash on the skin of the foot and affects 10% of the population.
Researchers studied 57 families in which
at least one member had toenail fungus and/or athlete's foot. Of these
families, 19 had at least two members who were infected.
Using a combination of microbiology and
DNA matching techniques, researchers were able to confirm that
identical infection-causing dermatophytes were present in 42% of affected
family members.
Researchers say matching the DNA of the
same dermatophytes among members of the same household clearly indicates
each family member had the identical strain of dermatophyte, which
confirms that the infection was transmitted from one family member to the
other, either directly or indirectly.
Questionnaires completed by the
participants showed the likelihood of the spread of the foot infection
within a household was tied to the strain of fungus and whether anyone in
the family had nail discoloration or scaling of the skin on the side of
the foot and/or a past history of toenail fungus and athlete's foot.
"This study raises questions we will look
at in the future," says Ghannoum. "For instance, why did the infection
spread among some families but not others, and why did some members of a
household become infected while others did not? When we can answer these
questions, we will be closer to knowing how to eradicate these very common
and highly persistent infections."
The results of the study were presented
today at the 46th ICAAC annual meeting of the American Society for
Microbiology in San Francisco. Novartis Pharmaceuticals funded the study.
Novartis is a WebMD sponsor.
|
