Report: Flip Flops Attract More Germs
Flip flops are the most comfortable thing to wear. I am pretty sure that most people have a pair or two in their shoe cabinet. Some have even resorted to amassing a huge collection of flip flops even when humans only have a pair of feet. With so many colors, styles and designs available, plus prices ranging from $2 to $200 (or more?) flip-flops are the most convenient footwear to own.
But I don’t mean to scare you though. Apparently, the New York Daily News did a study by asking two of its reporters to wear flip flops four days in a row. Will the result surprise you and push you to opt for closed shoes from now on? Or will you disregard this health advise?
According to the article:
Lab tests of two reporters’ flip-flops, worn for four days, revealed a potentially deadly germ – Staphylococcus aureus – lurking on the rubber. If it seeps into a cut on your foot – an entirely common summer affliction – the bacteria can enter the bloodstream and, if left untreated, kill you. “It can make you pretty sick if it got into a wound and into your blood, where it could attack any of your internal organs,” says Dennis Kinney, Ph.D., the manager of the microbiology lab at EMSL Analytical. “If you didn’t treat it with antibiotics, you could die from it.”
[snipped]
“If you wear shoes for three months, 93% have fecal bacteria and 20% have E. coli,” says Dr. Charles P. Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. While some of the bacteria found were common, non-disease-causing staphylococci, more dangerous offenders lurked underfoot. Aerococcus viridans and Rothia mucilaginosa, bacteria that normally reside in the mouth, were present. “It’s not a good sign,” says Kinney. “It means that people are spitting. If someone were sick and spitting on the ground, you could pick something up.”
Not to mention the worst offender, Staph aureus. Worst-case scenario: It enters your bloodstream, goes untreated and you die. But even mere contact with the skin can yield nasty results. “Staph aureus can be pretty dangerous,” says Kinney. “This strain isn’t methicillin-resistant (MRSA), but it is Staph aureus, and it can still cause infections – typically boils and skin infections.”
It’s a good thing foot spas, pampering and pedicures are not just for vanities these days or we would have huge feet problems, right?
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- 3 Comments »
- Posted in Shoes on August 21st, 2009
August 21st, 2009 at 4:27 pm
[...] Report: Flip Flops Attract More Germs [...]
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
[...] Report: Flip Flops Attract More Germs [...]
August 24th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Scary stuff:(My kids spend the holidays walking around in flip flops or even barefoot,i didnt realise they were in so much danger.