Is it possible to sanitize athletes' shoes?

CONTEXT Footwear should be designed to avoid trauma and injury to the skin of the feet that can favor bacterial and fungal infections. Procedures and substances for sanitizing the interior of shoes are uncommon but are important aspects of primary prevention against foot infections and unpleasant odor. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of a sanitizing technique for reducing bacterial and fungal contamination of footwear. DESIGN Crossover study. SETTING Mens Sana basketball team. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Twenty-seven male athletes and 4 coaches (62 shoes). INTERVENTION(S) The experimental protocol required a first sample (swab), 1/shoe, at time 0 from inside the shoes of all athletes before the sanitizing technique began and a second sample at time 1, after about 4 weeks, April 2012 to May 2012, of daily use of the sanitizing technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) The differences before and after use of the sanitizing technique for total bacterial count at 36 °C and 22 °C for Staphylococcus spp, yeasts, molds, Enterococcus spp, Pseudomonas spp, Escherichia coli , and total coliform bacteria were evaluated. RESULTS Before use of the sanitizing technique, the total bacterial counts at 36 °C and 22 °C and for Staphylococcus spp were greater by a factor of 5.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.42, 9.84), 5.84 (95% CI = 3.45, 9.78), and 4.78 (95% CI = 2.84, 8.03), respectively. All the other comparisons showed a reduction in microbial loads, whereas E coli and coliforms were no longer detected. No statistically significant decrease in yeasts (P = .0841) or molds (P = .6913) was recorded probably because of low contamination. CONCLUSIONS The sanitizing technique significantly reduced the bacterial presence in athletes' shoes.

[1]  I. Belghith,et al.  Epidemiological and etiological study of foot mycosis in Tunisia. , 2012, Actas dermo-sifiliograficas.

[2]  Janet L. Peacock,et al.  Presenting Medical Statistics from Proposal to Publication: a Step-by-Step Guide , 2006 .

[3]  U. Meyer,et al.  Untersuchungen zur Biokompatibilität eines neuen ionomeren Knochenzementes in der Endoprothetik , 2008 .

[4]  B. Bolaños.  Dermatophyte feet infection among students enrolled in swimming courses at a university pool. , 1991, Boletin de la Asociacion Medica de Puerto Rico.

[5]  R. V. Deursen,et al.  The effectiveness of footwear and offloading interventions to prevent and heal foot ulcers and reduce plantar pressure in diabetes: a systematic review , 2008, Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews.

[6]  J. Tomimori,et al.  Onychomycosis and Tinea Pedis in Athletes from the State of Rio Grande Do Sul (Brazil): A Cross-Sectional Study , 2011, Mycopathologia.

[7]  Changqing Zhao,et al.  Isolation, purification and identification of bacteria from the shoes worn by children , 2011 .

[8]  J. Grady,et al.  The incidence of tinea pedis in diabetic versus nondiabetic patients with interdigital macerations: a prospective study. , 2008, Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association.

[9]  B. Curless,et al.  Staphylococcus aureus recovery from environmental and human locations in 2 collegiate athletic teams. , 2010, Journal of athletic training.

[10]  M. I. Álvarez,et al.  Medically important fungi found in hallux nails of university students from Cali, Colombia , 2007, Mycopathologia.

[11]  F. Tomita,et al.  Foot odor due to microbial metabolism and its control. , 2006, Canadian journal of microbiology.

[12]  G. Simon,et al.  Diabetic foot infections: the role of microbiology and antibiotic treatment. , 2012, Seminars in vascular surgery.

[13]  D. Bandyopadhyay,et al.  Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol , 2010 .

[14]  Prevalence of superficial fungal infections among sports‐active individuals: results from the Achilles survey, a review of the literature , 2001 .

[15]  Penghua Wang,et al.  [Risk factors for infections of methicillin-resistant Staphylococci in diabetic foot patients]. , 2012, Zhonghua yi xue za zhi.

[16]  A. R. Noriega,et al.  Prevalence and Risk Factors of Tinea Unguium and Tinea Pedis in the General Population in Spain , 2000, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

[17]  M. Ghannoum,et al.  Optimization of an infected shoe model for the evaluation of an ultraviolet shoe sanitizer device. , 2012, Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association.

[18]  H. Menz,et al.  Relationship between obesity and foot pain and its association with fat mass, fat distribution, and muscle mass , 2012, Arthritis care & research.

[19]  Aylin Döğen,et al.  Epidemiology of dermatophytosis in junior combat and non‐combat sports participants , 2013, Mycoses.

[20]  A. Singal,et al.  Onychomycosis: Diagnosis and management. , 2011, Indian journal of dermatology, venereology and leprology.

[21]  A. Attyé,et al.  Epidemiology of tinea pedis in marathon runners: prevalence of occult athlete's foot , 1993, Mycoses.

[22]  J. Joly,et al.  Incidence of occult athlete's foot in swimmers , 1990, European Journal of Epidemiology.

[23]  R. Arbeit,et al.  Persistent and relapsing infections associated with small-colony variants of Staphylococcus aureus. , 1995, Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

[24]  A. Djeridane,et al.  Epidemiological and aetiological study on tinea pedis and onychomycosis in Algeria , 2006, Mycoses.

[25]  B. Adams,et al.  Prevalence of Tinea Pedis in Professional and College Soccer Players Versus Non-Athletes , 2007, Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.