Fungal nail infections are contagious, so it is important you take measures to prevent them from spreading. First of all, you shouldn't share your clothes, shoes and bed linens with other people. Also, you should always wash your hands thoroughly after touching infected nails or applying the treatment.
It is important to treat athlete's foot as soon as symptoms appear. After touching the affected area, it is important to wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.
Yes, many types of toenail fungi, including tinea unguium, are quite contagious. You can spread the fungus to someone else through direct contact. You can also get toenail fungus by touching an infected surface.
The following habits can help prevent nail fungus or reinfections and athlete's foot, which can lead to nail fungus: Keep your nails clean and dry. Wash your hands and feet regularly. Wash your hands after touching an infected nail.
Yes, toenail fungus is contagious.
The bad news is that fungus can spread to other toes – and very easily at that. To make matters worse, the fungus can even spread to your skin, fingernails, and loved ones!
Toenail fungus is contagious, and you can pick it up by walking barefoot in moist, warm environments like showers, saunas, or locker rooms.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill most types of bacteria, viruses and fungi in a few seconds.
Toenail fungus is a highly-contagious, easy-to-spread, hard-to-treat infection. It thrives in warm, damp environments, like pools, locker rooms, and even showers. It transfers to other surfaces on contact, like your feet or things like towels and footwear.
Fungal nail infections typically don't go away on their own, and the best treatment is usually prescription antifungal pills taken by mouth. In severe cases, a healthcare professional might remove the nail completely. It can take several months to a year for the infection to go away.
People get sporotrichosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores in the environment. Cutaneous (skin) infection is the most common form of the infection. It occurs when the fungus enters the skin through a small cut or scrape, usually after someone touches contaminated plant matter.
Scrub your shower and disinfect it with a bleach-based cleanser, Andersen says. Spray your shoes with an antibacterial spray, especially if you've worn them without socks, and wash all socks in hot water with bleach to kill any fungi.
These fungi thrive in warm, moist areas. You can also get a fungal nail infection by sharing an infected nail clipper or towel. But you don't have to catch it from someone. You can get it if your nails are frequently moist or you often wear sweaty socks and shoes.
Wash with Soap and Water
While soap and water may not always be able to eliminate a fungal infection entirely, it helps to keep the spread down and lower the intensity of the infection.
A simple and easy fix at home is to “sanitize shower bases with a potential disinfectant like bleach. It kills spores of fungi,” Tierno says. Try a diluted bleach solution to kill off any potential threats.
Fungus is already a difficult infection to get rid of, and what surprises many people is that fungus can live in your shoes for up to 20 months. Thus, continuously treating your shoes throughout treatment is essential. There are many ways to treat shoes including Lysol, anti-fungal mists and UV shoe cleaning devices.
Soaking your feet and toes in a bath containing Epsom salts can help dry out fungal infections by killing fungal spores. Add 1–2 cups of Epsom salt to a footbath of warm water and soak for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can add 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt to 2 cups of water and soak a cotton ball in it.
Temperatures above 60 degrees kills the fungal spores.
You'll know that the medication is working and the toenail fungus is dying when your toenail changes back to its natural color, decreases in thickness, shows healthy new growth, and you see a clear delineation between the infected part of the toenail and your new nail growth.
70% isopropyl alcohol kills organisms by denaturing their proteins and dissolving their lipids and is effective against most bacteria, fungi and many viruses, but is ineffective against bacterial spores (CDC, 2020).
Always use lukewarm water. Avoid using very hot water. Hot water favors fungal growth in the body. Wash the affected parts with cold water once you are done taking a bath.
Wear clean, breathable socks to bed.
If you share a bed with another person, the fungus may transfer to them via shared linens. Wearing clean socks to bed and washing sheets regularly minimizes transmission risk.
Our golden rule is one week on, one week off, at the absolute most. Any more, and you're basically preparing breeding grounds for nail fungi. If you want to be extra safe, you can get separate bottles for your infected and non-infected toes.