Interesting topic. Really.
I was interseted in the same thing, and found an interesting journal article
through Medline. The exact information is listed below.
Unique Identifier : 89092921
Authors: Marshall J. Holland KT. Gribbon EM.; Dept of Microbiology,
University of Leeds, UK.
Title: A compar. study of the cutaneous microflora of normal feet with
low and high levels of odour.
Source: Journal of Applied Bacteriology. 65(1):61-8, 1988 Jul.
Abstract: A comparison of the cutaneous microflora found on normal feet with
varying levels of odour has been made. High population densities of staphylococci
and aerobic coryneform bacteria predispose to foot odour. There was no association
between odour and the carriage on feet of any particular micro-organism, including
brevibacteria. All organisms isolated were screened for exoenzyme activity. Only staphylococci
produced lipase of the staphylococci), whereas 97% of.micrococci, 68% of aerobic coryneform
bacteria, 25% of staphylococci and 94% of propionibacteria produced proteinase.
The ability to degrade callous was exhibited by 47% of micrococci, 24% of aerobic coryneforms
and 17% of the staphylococci. Feet with high odour had significantly higher population densities
of micro-organisms with the ability to produce these exoenzymes than feet Lwpth low odour.
No association was observed betwee- foot odour and the carriage of micro-organisms capable of
producing methanethiol. A hypothesis for the role of micro-organisms in the production of foot odour
is proposed.
Good luck finding the actual article. This may be the ONLY reference to the Microbio of foot odor.
What's critical in any study you find is that the refernce be ordinary subjects, not people
with ulcers or other less common conditions. In other words, you want ordinary smelly feet,right?
Good luck,
Art Gutierrez
> Hey,
> I am an undergrad here at Virginia Tech and I need some certain
> favors...
> Well, sometime in the future I am going to do a presentation for my
> microbiology seminar. I chose the topic of foot odor, more specifically
> brevibacterium epidermidis, its characteristics and its waste products
> (the bad odor). I am suppose to find the information from periodicals,
> but not many researchers want to deal with this organism (probably due to
> the odor). so I was wondering if anyone knows about any information or
> recent magazines (or journals) on this topic of foot odor. Thank you
>> Rich Park (BioHokie) rpark at vt.edu>
