December 03, 2007 by robritt
When I was a kid growing up in Florida, I always
went barefoot, especially if I was looking for worms
for going fishing. Well, sometime you get more than
you bargained for and I managed to get Creeping
Eruptions. I had no idea what it was, but it itched
like crazy and finally my parents took me to the
doctor. It looked like a mole was running around
under the surface of the bottom of my foot but in
some places it was more like a blister.
It seems to be prevalent in the South and Southeast,
however it is all over the country. Usually more
children get it than adults do, but I know of some
plumbers who got by having to crawl under a house
while doing some work. This is especially nasty
and painful when it gets in your back or further
down, as you can imagine.
This disease is usually found in sandy, damp soil
that has been contaminated by dog or cat feces.
When the animals go potty in this type of soil sometimes
they have animal hookworm and the eggs in their
stool will hatch infecting that area. The whole
area around this, then is infected with its larvae
and if you even touch part of it, the larvae will
dig into your skin, so going barefooted is a great
way for them to get under the skin of children who
love going barefooted.
This will in turn, cause intense itching and an
inflammation causing scratching in the place where
it gets you. It is especially itchy at night when
you are trying to relax. These mole like, or snake
like tracks can spread over time the more you scratch
and then you have a really serious problem.
My infestations were so severe they had freeze
the thing making a tunnel in my foot, several time
before I got rid of it and it wasn't funny. The
biggest threat of this thing is that the more someone
scratches it, the more it spreads and it can cause
a secondary skin problem that become badly infected
as well.
