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Athlete's foot also called as tenia pedis is a fungal infection caused by Trichophyton. This fungus gets transmitted in moist areas like bathhouses, showers, and workout mats etcetera. It mostly infects the feet of people walking barefoot in these moist areas.It can also spread the infection to other areas including the groin. When the infection spreads to other areas of the body, it is called by different names like tenia cruris, tinea corporis etcetera.
symptoms of Athlete's foot differ from one person to another. The very common symptom includes scaling, peeling, flaking, cracking, either itching or burning or both. Infection causes redness of the skin. It softens the skin and eventually leads to maceration of the skin. Apart from these, blisters can also occur. Pain, swelling and inflammation may also occur due to the exposed tissue. Some people may have an allergic response to this fungal infection, which is called as “id reaction”. This reaction may be in the form of blisters or vesicles in the area like hands, arms and chest. It occurs at the onset of the infection of Trichophyton and differs from the usual athlete's foot symptoms.
The fungus causes different types of infection. Depending on the type of infection, athlete's foot symptoms slightly vary from one individual to another. In a Toe-Web infection, the symptoms are itching, burning and a slight odor. The symptoms of Athlete's foot may worsen to cracking and peeling of the skin between the digits and a foul odor. This is the most common type of infection in athlete's foot which occurs between the fourth and the fifth digit. In Moccasin type of infection, the symptoms are itching, burning, dryness, minor irritation, and scaly skin on the sole and heel. In severe infection, the toenails are infected, which thickens, crumbles and falls out. The symptoms of this type of infection commonly occur in both the feet and one hand. This is the chronic type of infection.
Vesicular type of infection is the least common type of this fungus. It usually begins with a sudden outbreak of fluid filled blisters in the toe or heel or sole or top of the foot. It can occur after an initial infection either in the same area or in another area like chest, arms etc. This type of infection may also be accompanied by bacterial infection making it worse. Very rarely in all the type of infection, bleeding occurs. Bleeding symbolizes the severe case of infection.
Generally people do not even know that they have been infected. They just ignore the infection during the initial symptoms by misunderstanding the infection with dry skin between the toes. In rare cases, recurrent athlete's foot or any fungal infection can be a symptom of diseases like diabetes or AIDS.
