| SUNDAY, July 6 -- There's nothing quite like
a warm, dark, moist environment to make fungi feel right at home.
And particularly in the summer, that cozy place can
unfortunately be on your feet.
With more than 250,000 sweat glands in the foot, maintaining
the kind of ventilation necessary to prevent fungal growth can be
a challenge. Failure to do so can lead to such problems as foot
odor, fungal nail infections, athlete's foot and other skin
infections, warns the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA).
Common areas of fungal growth are the soles of the feet and
between the toes. Signs of infection can include dry skin,
itching, scaling, inflammation and blisters that can break and
lead to pain and swelling.
If you find your feet plagued with such problems, you're
probably not alone in your community -- infections such as
athlete's foot are contagious and can be spread not only at warm,
humid places such as swimming pools, but even through the sharing
of towels.
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