• Question: What fungus grows on your feet

    Asked by anon-223976 to Stuart, Scott, Jack, Alex on 22 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Scott Dwyer

      Scott Dwyer answered on 22 Nov 2019:


      There a lots of different fungus that lives on our bodies that are harmless.

      A study of the area between toes in 100 young adults found 14 different genera of fungi. These include yeasts such as Candida albicans, Rhodotorula rubra, Torulopsis and Trichosporon cutaneum, dermatophytes (skin living fungi) such as Microsporum gypseum, and Trichophyton rubrum and nondermatophyte fungi (opportunistic fungi that can live in skin) such as Rhizopus stolonifer, Trichosporon cutaneum, Fusarium, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, Curvularia, Alternaria alternata, Paecilomyces, Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium species

      Occasionally though some harmless fungi (known as commensal fungi) can become harmful and pathogenic meaning they can cause infections such as Athlete’s foot, this is caused by a variety of fungi such as Trichophyton, Epidermophyton, and Microsporum.

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