You should have been raised with the note to take your shoes off when you go inside a house. Experts have taken a closer look into the habit of wearing shoes in the house, and if you keep reading, you will see what they found out.
Imagine yourself walking down the street, getting some vitamin D from the sun. Do you notice every leaf or piece of gum on the ground and if you’ve stepped on it?
Likely, you aren’t doing this, but everything from the ground latches on to your shoes.One thing that especially sticks to the underside of your shoes is bacteria.
More specifically, your shoes are a magnet for sources of E.Coli in the form of bird dropping, dog waste, public bathroom floors and many others. Debris and leaves also carry a plethora of bacteria.
According to studies, there are an average of 421,000 different types of bacteria, and once your shoes touch your floor mats 90-99 percent of that bacteria is instantly transferred. You don’t even have to do the math to realize just how awful that really is.
E.Coli and its Harmful Effects
We’ll talk about just one bacteria, the E.Coli. It is a bacteria that lives in people’s intestines, causing problems such as diarrhea, urinary tract infections, intestinal problems and others.
Symptoms of infections can be diarrhea (which can be bloody), nausea, constant fatigue, abdominal cramps and etc. The way you can get infected is if you swallow even a small amount of E.Coli bacteria.
The first thing that might come to your mind is that all of these problems can come from the underside of a shoe. It can’t get worse than those hundreds of thousands of bacteria.
We hate to break it to you, but it can get worse.
Clostridium Difficile Can Be a Life Threatening Situation
A new study from Houston, Texas found out that your shoes carry harmful bacteria such as C difficile, otherwise known as Clostridium difficile, which is causes life threatening inflammations in the colon. They were thought to be usually acquired in healthcare setting, but that is way off the actual truth.
They had 2538 samples, and only 448 came from hospitals. The rest of the samples that had this bacteria were found on the shoes from chain stores, fast food restaurants, commercial stores and parks.
In addition, they found traces of said bacteria from people’s homes, rather their shoes. On average, 25 percent of people’s shoes carry this bacteria.
Signs and Symptoms of C. Difficile
Approximately 500.000 people in the US get sick from C.difficile and their numbers have been steadily climbing in recent years. This infection also becomes more difficult to treat.
People that are severely affectec by C.difficile have also reported being dehydrated, and also having symptoms of blood in the stool, swollen abdomen, rapid heart rate, fevers and others. If you have some of these symptoms, don’t hesitate to visit your doctor immediately.
Simple Solution to Avoid Carrying Bacteria in Your Home
The good news is that you can actually avoid these bacteria if you simply remove your shoes before entering your house. If you are thinking about wiping them off of the mat and then entering your home, you’d be wrong again.
Just because you’ve done a few swipes doesn’t mean you’re free of the bacteria. That only adds more bacteria onto the mat and you could pick the bacteria later.
Try to end the habit of wearing shoes in your home. It will potentially save you and your family from problematic bacteria.
It is also a useful thing if you want to live in a more sanitary household.