Can I contract yeast infection from public shower?
Good day, Eric Bakker, naturopath, author of Candida Crusher and another question for you coming your way regarding yeast infections.
Can I get a yeast infection from a public shower?
I’m not sure what you mean by yeast infection from a public shower, but I think that you mean athletes foot or toenail fungus. You’re certainly more susceptible if you’re going to walk around barefoot in public facilities, particularly if you don’t dry your feet properly and put clean socks on.
I’ve been involved in gym for many years of my life and have never had athletes foot from a gym. I have known people who’ve complained to me about athletes foot that frequent gyms. I’ll tell you what, I think a key thing in this situation is to make sure you’ve always got clean cotton socks, you’ve got multiple pairs of shoes, you rotate shoes, and when you come home, you take those socks and shoes off, you don’t walk around with socks a lot.
It’s people who tend to wear sneakers and shoes and socks all the time and particularly guys who drink beer or eat pizzas or have yeasty or sweet foods who tend to have smelly, sort of sweaty bodies who don’t dry themselves properly. They’re much more prone to fungal yeast infections of the feet.
I don’t think you would catch other kinds of yeast infections from showers apart from infections of the lower extremities. You wouldn’t get a vaginal infection from a public shower nor would you get a throat infection or mouth infection.
So I think we’re talking about foot infections. If you’re concerned and you’ve been to a public shower, make sure you dry your feet properly and put clean cotton socks on. And a clever trick is to put one or two drops of tea tree oil in your shoe; rub them around your feet. And the best tea tree oil is the Australian tea tree oil. Don’t be fooled. Melaleuca alternifolia or the Australian tea tree oil is the only tea tree oil to use. There are a lot of scam products on the market that claim to be Australian tea tree oil, but they’re not. So make sure it’s the real Aussie tea tree oil.
So I hope that answers your question about the infections in the public showers.