 "Photo: Laura Cease/The Penn")
Frightening fungus is part of dormitory living, right?
It doesn't have to be.
Flip-flops play an important part in protecting your feet from the icky germs lurking on bathroom floors.
Foot infections like athlete's foot and toenail fungus spread from person to person when people are sharing close living quarters, CBS News reported.
Athlete's foot lives in a warm, moist environment, and up to 70 percent of the population will have it at some point in their lives, according to medicinenet.com.
So what exactly is athlete's foot?
Athlete's foot is the most common fungal infection and is caused by a fungus that grows on or in the top layer of skin, according to WebMD.com.
This source states that there are three types of athlete's foot: toe web, moccasin-type and vesicular infections.
Toe web infections usually occur between the fourth and fifth toe. The skin becomes scaly, peels and cracks. Moccasin-type infections start with soreness on the foot. Then the skin on the bottom or heel of the foot can become thick and crack.
Vesicular infections begin with sudden outbreaks of large, fluid-filled blisters under the skin. There is a treatment for athlete's foot, according to WebMD.com. You can treat most cases at home with over-the-counter lotion, cream or spray.
For severe cases, doctors may prescribe pills or medication to apply to the skin.
According to goaskalice.columbia.edu, Columbia University's Internet health service, some signs of nail fungus are thickening, yellowish discoloration, "toe jam" and breakage of the nails.
But fungus isn't the only thing students need to worry about. Plantar warts, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), can enter the body through tiny cuts or cracks on the feet, according to the Mayo Clinic Web site. It's contracted mainly through walking barefoot in public places - like residence hall restrooms.
While the Mayo Clinic site said most plantar warts disappear on their own, they can also be treated by over-the-counter wart remedies, a visit to the doctor or simply covering the wart with duct tape for a few weeks.
"I wear flip-flops in the shower because there's probably 60 guys that use the showers…" said Jeff Tuck (sophomore, Spanish education). "Probably 30 of them pee in the shower."
"[I wear flip-flops because] everybody else wears flip-flops in the shower," said Claire Greenhill (junior, special education).
"People urinate in the showers, and people do some weird stuff in the shower," said Tom Zupko (freshman, social studies education).
Medicalnewstoday.com offers some helpful tips from Dr. Oliver Zong, a New York City podiatrist. He advises scrubbing your feet, wearing the right socks, letting your feet breathe and never going barefoot.
Zong insists that athlete's foot and nail fungus are very commonly transmitted in shared showers. It seems like finding people who do not wear flip-flops in the shower at IUP was nearly impossible, which is a good thing when sharing close quarters in residence halls.
Protect your feet IUP, and keep wearing those flip-flops when trekking to the shower.
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