# Diseases in the shower. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416 "2000-09-25T01:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/1 "2000-09-25T01:33:51Z")
I’m a college student, and in my dorm it is common practice to wear flip-flops in the showers. Not that I mind my purple flip flops, but I’m wondering if this fashion statement is really necessary. So, dopers, are there really any gross diseases I can get from showering in my dorm, and will wearing flip-flops prevent them? I asked my UGA, but all he did was mutter something about hookworm and walk away quickly. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/2 "2000-09-25T02:08:08Z")
Athletes foot is common but I do not know of anybody who has died of this… ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/3 "2000-09-25T02:09:37Z")
I rarely follow the links on these pages but I suggest you take a look at this one for a partial answer to your question. It is the most “intriguing” link I have ever seen. [http://www.ontap.com/health/stinkyfeet/day1.html](http://www.ontap.com/health/stinkyfeet/day1.html) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/4 "2000-09-25T02:30:00Z")
Um, thanks. I think. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/5 "2000-09-25T02:54:36Z")
Two words: plantar’s warts. MAJOR PAIN!!! It took me about five months to get rid of them…and they were disgusting! Like hard lumps of black and white marble skin… EW!!! ---
**Author:** ![jamesglewisf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@jamesglewisf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamesglewisf)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/6 "2000-09-25T02:56:44Z")
I have a 2.5 year old that was born 11 weeks premature. We had to be extremely cautious about germs until she was 1.5 years old. From what we learned from our doctors, I’d say there is nothing you have to worry about other than athlete’s foot. People tend to be more paranoid about germs than they need to be. Just normal handwashing protects you from most things you could get. By the time you are 18-20, your immune system is working very well. I wouldn’t sweat it. A study at Bristol University in England found that children who bathed twice a day and washed their hands more than five times a day had a 1-in-4 chance of developing asthma. For those who bathed every other day, the odds decreased to 1-in-7. Source: Dallas Morning News, June 14, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/7 "2000-09-25T03:01:23Z")
If that link doesn’t qualify for a Weird Earl, nothing does. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/8 "2000-09-25T03:03:49Z")
I meant the stinkyfeet link, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/9 "2000-09-25T04:22:37Z")
I was a dirty little shit when I was a kid. I’d go four, five, seven days without a bath. I have no allergies (save lanolin, and a very, very mild ragweed), I almost never get sick (never been in the hospital, never had a sickness that needed subscription meds until last year), and am extremely healthy. If I’m not a walking testimony for being a dirty kid, no one is. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/10 "2000-09-25T04:31:36Z")
Subscription meds, Homer? Do you get them from Publisher’s Clearing House? \ ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/11 "2000-09-25T05:33:41Z")
Well, strangely enough, in my dorm, I would guess that most people didn’t wear flip-flops. I certainly didn’t, and I know that the man who eventually became my husband didn’t, and neither of us caught any weird diseases. Athlete’s foot is the only disease I’ve ever heard that you could catch from a shower floor, and if I were particularily suceptable to catching that, I suppose I would have worn shoes, but I don’t seem to be. I have, however, heard of someone catching a disease from a dormitory bathtub. Apparently, my sister-in-law got repeated bouts of urinary tract infection from bathing at her dorm. Of course, she was using bubble bath, too, I think, which I am sure did not help a bit. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/12 "2000-09-25T07:39:32Z")
When I use public showers I do wear flipflops and I still feel a bit icky about the water on the floor and try to keep fresh water running at all times. You should see the showers I have had to use in China and other places. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/13 "2000-09-25T12:48:00Z")
like **Guinastasia** said… plantar’s warts ---
**Author:** ![lemartel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lemartel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lemartel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/14 "2000-09-25T15:33:48Z")
I caught atheletes foot from a shower floor in college and it is a very gross disease. I would definetly recommend the flip flops. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/15 "2000-09-25T15:46:55Z")
For God’s sake people! How come none of you warned her about the dangers of [Dihydrogen Monoxide poisoning](http://www.circus.com/~nodhmo/)? Forget the flip flops; take an umbrella in there with you! ---
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/16 "2000-09-25T17:33:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andygirl \* > \*\*I asked my UGA, but all he did was mutter something about hookworm and walk away quickly. \*\* Just FTR, you probably won’t get hookworm from a shower unless people are shitting in there. Hookworm is an intestinal parasite that is passed in feces. When the feces decays away on the ground, the hookworms remain, and if bare skin (usually the feet, but it could be anywhere) contacts the ground where the hookworms are, they can burrow through the skin and thereby enter a new host. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/17 "2000-09-25T21:38:30Z")
Maybe he was confusing it with ringworm, a disease caused by fungi in the same family as athlete’s foot fungi. [http://www.medic-planet.com/MP\_article/internal\_reference/Ringworm](http://www.medic-planet.com/MP_article/internal_reference/Ringworm) ---
**Author:** ![etgaw1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@etgaw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etgaw1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/18 "2000-09-25T21:46:57Z")
I didn’t wear flip-flops because I was afraid of anyhting getting on me. I just thought that the floors were nasty and I didn’t like the feeling of slime on my feet. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-in-the-shower/34416/19 "2000-09-25T22:23:38Z")
While in a Naval hospital in Asia, I noticed that there were showers were labled “HEPATITIS PATIENTS ONLY” in huge bolded print. Dunno what the chances are of actually catching the disease from a shower, and this _was_ a hospital instead of a dormatory or private home, but evidently they felt it important enough to make signs. -David