Ask the Doctors - How can I avoid catching my husband's athlete's foot? (2024)

FAQs

How can I prevent my partner from getting athlete's foot? ›

Never share towels, wear socks while inside your home, and wash your sheets in hot water to prevent the spread of athlete's foot to your partner.

Athlete's foot can spread easily

The fungus that causes athlete's foot is very contagious. In fact, you may have picked it up when you walked barefoot in a locker room or other public area. Luckily, there are a few ways your partner can avoid sharing the fungal infection with you.

Athlete's foot is contagious and can spread through contact with an infected person or from contact with contaminated surfaces, such as towels, floors and shoes.

Is athlete's foot contagious in bed? Athlete's foot can be transmitted in bed. If the skin flakes off and gets on the sheets, it can be spread that way if you share a bed with someone else. That is why it's important to wear socks while in bed to protect your partner if you have an athlete's foot infection.

It may sound like a dangerous chemical, but hydrogen peroxide is an effective home remedy for treating athlete's foot. The chemical works by killing all surface bacteria and funguses on the skin.

A simple and easy fix at home is to “sanitize shower bases with a potential disinfectant like bleach. It kills spores of fungi,” Tierno says. Try a diluted bleach solution to kill off any potential threats.

Keep your feet clean and dry.

Carefully wash your feet with soap and water every day, taking care to wash between your toes. Dry your feet well after washing them. You also want to avoid having damp or sweaty feet for too long. A damp, warm area provides the perfect area for fungi to thrive.

How soon do symptoms appear? It is not known how long it takes for symptoms to develop after infection for athlete's foot. For ring worm and jock itch, the incubation period can range from 4 – 10 days depending on where the ringworm occurs on the body.

To prevent or mitigate the spread of the fungal infection, an individual might consider being particularly careful with how they handle their laundry. This is because spores can often spread from clothes to clothes.

Is Athletes foot contagious by touch? ›

Tinea pedis, more commonly known as athlete's foot, is a non-serious and common fungal infection of the foot. Athlete's foot is contagious and can be contracted by touching someone who has it or infected surfaces. The most common places contaminated by it are public showers, locker rooms, and swimming pools.

Athlete's foot spreads either through contact with fungi or by contact with infected skin. Perpetually damp areas like locker rooms, bathroom floors, showers, and swimming pools are prime breeding grounds for the fungi. They can also live in socks, shoes, and towels, all of which have a tendency to remain moist.

Wash your feet twice a day and gently towel-dry between the toes. Use an antifungal product. After washing and drying your feet, apply an antifungal product. The antifungal terbinafine (Lamisil AT) has been shown to be very effective.

Athlete's Foot and Carpet Cleaning

Fungus can live in shoes and carpets for years in spore form. Simply vacuuming or mopping the area periodically cannot adequately protect you from fungus tracked in from the gym, public pool or flaked off by a host.

Wool socks are superior to cotton in that respect, because the entire cotton fiber absorbs moisture. Socks that are 100% merino wool dry quickly, have a natural anti-bacterial nature, and also help reduce foot odor.

The fungus can even contaminate bed sheets and spread to other body parts through rubbing and scratching. To control the spread of infection, keep bathroom surfaces clean and don't share towels The best way to prevent athlete's foot is by wearing sandals or shower shoes when walking around a locker room or pool.

Wash sheets, towels, socks, underwear, and bedclothes in hot water (at 60 °C / 140 °F) to kill the fungus. Change towels and bed sheets at least once per week.

Make sure that any clothing, socks, towels or bedding that have been exposed to the infected person are washed separately in hot water (at least 140 degrees F). If water isn't hot enough it won't be able to kill the fungus. For any white clothing or materials, you can also use bleach with hot water.

Neosporin AF (containing miconozole) is marketed for athlete's foot and jock itch. These specific skin fungal infections are caused by the Tinea genus of fungus.

Like hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol can help kill off the fungus that's on the surface level of the skin. You can apply it directly to the affected area or soak your feet in a footbath of 70 percent rubbing alcohol and 30 percent water for 30 minutes.

Is Epsom salt good for athlete's foot? ›

You can even use Epsom salt baths to relieve a number of foot complaints and conditions, including: Athlete's Foot: While Epsom salts don't kill the fungus that causes athlete's foot, it can help draw the moisture out. This makes the environment much less inviting for fungus.

"You can take wadded up newspaper or paper towels and spray them down with Lysol and stuff them in the shoes and just leave them there overnight. That'll kill the fungus in there. It'll also kill other bacteria.

Two mold killing detergents are Oxiclean and Clorox.

You can best treat the Athlete's foot with anti-fungal creams and sprays. But you can also use a hand sanitizer to clean the affected area as hand sanitizers contain isopropyl alcohol, which is effective on fungus, bacteria, and viruses.

If you share a bed with another person, the fungus may transfer to them via shared linens. Wearing clean socks to bed and washing sheets regularly minimizes transmission risk.

Sharing towels, sheets, clothing, or shoes with someone who has athlete's foot also can spread the infection.

The simple answer to this is yes. Toenail fungus is actually very contagious, and can be spread by touching infected surfaces. A common fungus is athlete's foot, which is spread when you step barefoot in an infected area, like a locker room or public space.

You do not have to throw away your shoes if you have athlete's foot unless they were worn without socks, have dirt in them, or you have another skin reaction to the material or color dyes.

If left untreated, it can spread to a nail and cause a fungal nail infection. The infection can spread to other areas of skin, such as the hands, but that rarely happens. Very rarely, and only in severe cases of athlete's foot, it can also lead to a bacterial infection.

What Causes Athlete's Foot? Athlete's foot is caused by fungi that normally live on the skin, hair, and nails called dermatophytes. When the environment they live in gets warm and moist, they grow out of control and start to cause symptoms.

How do you disinfect a shower with athlete's foot? ›

A simple and easy fix at home is to “sanitize shower bases with a potential disinfectant like bleach. It kills spores of fungi,” Tierno says. Try a diluted bleach solution to kill off any potential threats.

Athlete's foot is a fungal infection of the skin on the feet. It is characterized by an itchy, red rash and dry, peeling skin on the feet. Athlete's foot is highly contagious. Many people catch it by walking barefoot in public areas such as swimming pools, locker rooms, and showers.

Athlete's foot is contagious and can be contracted by touching someone who has it or infected surfaces. The most common places contaminated by it are public showers, locker rooms, and swimming pools. Once contracted, it grows on feet that are left inside moist, dark, and warm shoes and socks.

To prevent or mitigate the spread of the fungal infection, an individual might consider being particularly careful with how they handle their laundry. This is because spores can often spread from clothes to clothes.