Is it possible to sanitize athletes' shoes?

CONTEXT

Footwear should be designed to avoid trauma and injury to the skin of the feet that can favor bacterial and fungal infections. Procedures and substances for sanitizing the interior of shoes are uncommon but are important aspects of primary prevention against foot infections and unpleasant odor.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy of a sanitizing technique for reducing bacterial and fungal contamination of footwear.

DESIGN

Crossover study.

SETTING

Mens Sana basketball team.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-seven male athletes and 4 coaches (62 shoes).

INTERVENTION(S): The experimental protocol required a first sample (swab), 1/shoe, at time 0 from inside the shoes of all athletes before the sanitizing technique began and a second sample at time 1, after about 4 weeks, April 2012 to May 2012, of daily use of the sanitizing technique.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The differences before and after use of the sanitizing technique for total bacterial count at 36 °C and 22 °C for Staphylococcus spp, yeasts, molds, Enterococcus spp, Pseudomonas spp, Escherichia coli , and total coliform bacteria were evaluated.

RESULTS

Before use of the sanitizing technique, the total bacterial counts at 36 °C and 22 °C and for Staphylococcus spp were greater by a factor of 5.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.42, 9.84), 5.84 (95% CI = 3.45, 9.78), and 4.78 (95% CI = 2.84, 8.03), respectively. All the other comparisons showed a reduction in microbial loads, whereas E coli and coliforms were no longer detected. No statistically significant decrease in yeasts (P = .0841) or molds (P = .6913) was recorded probably because of low contamination.

CONCLUSIONS

The sanitizing technique significantly reduced the bacterial presence in athletes' shoes.