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By practicing eastern martial arts or yoga, you will improve your physical condition and find inner peace. Unfortunately, you can also find a mushroom. Practicing barefoot in public places puts you at risk of contracting ringworm.
We all know that you should wear flip-flops when showering in public. However, this is not enough to protect yourself from mycosis. Mushroom spores can live for several years in a dry environment, waiting for a convenient opportunity to find a new owner. They chat in rugs, exercise mats, towels.
Mushrooms attacking humans
Mushrooms come in different forms. They usually consist of threadlike parts called hyphae. They have the rare ability to break down keratin, the protein that is the main component of the epidermis, hair and nails. It can be properly said that fungi feed on creatine and therefore attack our skin, nails and hair.
The fungi that attack the human body produce spores, cells used for asexual reproduction. They are found in the scaly skin of a person suffering from mycosis. Meeting the exfoliated fragment of the fungal skin is often the cause of infection. It is enough to stand barefoot in a place where a person suffering from mycosis also walked without shoes. The shell he lost sticks to our foot.
Symptoms of ringworm
The mushrooms find ideal living conditions on the feet. They especially like the warm and cozy place between the fourth and fifth fingers. This is where the disease most often begins. Then the microbes move to other spaces between the toes and can spread to the entire surface of the feet. They can also attack nails, hands, groin and other parts of the body.
The first symptoms of a ringworm attack are skin peeling. The organism, sensing a foreign body, begins to defend itself. It may become red and itchy. When we scratch ourselves, we spread the spores and the disease spreads. When it attacks nails, it changes their appearance. There are white or yellow spots and free space under the nails. Nails infected with mycosis may also change shape or thickness.
Treatment of athlete’s foot
It is better not to treat mycosis yourself. The dermatologist will give us an ointment or tablets. After completing the treatment, do not forget to kill the fungus spores in your shoes. They can wait patiently for a long time there. They have to be eliminated with special preparations available in pharmacies. We have to disinfect all shoes. Let’s not forget about roller skates, ice skates and ski boots. In the case of socks, a good wash is enough. Sometimes the doctor orders a mycological test to check what type of fungus has attacked us. Some flaky skin or nail scrapings are painlessly removed for testing in a laboratory. Dr. Wanda Brzozowska dealing with mycological diagnostics says that often the test result does not confirm the presence of the fungus. It turns out that the changes have completely different causes, e.g. they are caused by psoriasis or allergies. – Only some of us are susceptible to mycosis. Not everyone is discouraged – explains Brzozowska.
Mycosis prophylaxis
The problem, however, is that no one knows if it’s fungus resistant. Therefore, we must be careful. We should not go barefoot in public places, also in locker rooms, where the often infected with mycosis, vigorously taking off his socks, spreads spores on the floor. Many sports involve barefoot exercises, so people who practice martial arts or yoga should use prophylactic antifungal agents on their feet before training. They can be purchased at a pharmacy without a prescription.
Text: Halina Pilonis