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Comment by jacobrast | Hacker News Reader

Did you know that walking barefoot in the Southern US was how most people contracted hookworm? At is height an estimated 40% of the population in certain regions had the parasite which was know to cause a "mental haze". Some historians attribute the disease (again, contracted by walking barefoot outdoors) to have caused the stereotype of the "lazy slow southerner" [1].

Do you feel walking barefoot is worth the risk of catching this and other potentially hazardous diseases?

[1] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-so...

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Are you walking on human feces a lot? Hook work was a problem because of a huge lack of sanitary conditions. Less about being barefoot. Would I walk around barefoot in my yard? Absolutely.

You can get parasites from animal faeces too.

From being barefoot? I think it’s pretty low on the risk list. There is absolutely an animal hookworm but it does not have the some risk as human hookworm.

Sure if you eat the poop in your backyard you might get something so that is always important to think about!

Plenty of people have a backyard garden...

I am still missing the point sorry. Infection risk from parasites is quite low via ingestion and even lower via skin. It’s quite low of a risk for ground vegetables and it’s why you want to rinse everything off to begin with. Non-zero but highly unlikely. Some eggs can last years but again washing your produce off is important.

I live in a city and I cannot tell you how often I see dogshit on the sidewalk, like just in the middle of the sidewalk

the only neighborhoods where I don't see this are the ones where there's some nice retired older person who diligently cleans the shit up. but it's not like they bleach the spot, they just pick up most of the poop. so yeah, there's feces everywhere

it also doesn't help that we have bottom tier public restrooms available on a per-capita basis, at least here in the US: https://thronelabs.co/blog/where-have-all-the-public-restroo...

I live in a city too but don’t share the same problem as you in my yard! Sorry about that!

Honestly that sounds horrible. In most of the civilized modern world that problem is solved tho and people pick up after their dogs

Anecdotally not in Berlin, Rome, or Dublin.

Sadly most dog owners only pick up after their dog if someone else is around/watching. Most people on rural neighborhoods won't pick it up at all.

https://archive.is/lcEzs

Sad to here. I lively in a quiet remote place in the mountains and I usually only find fox shit, or occasional cat shit if anything. People here in Switzerland do usually care. And I got the same impression from _most_ our neighbour countries.

I walk my dog twice a day every day rain or shine. I've picked up his poop 100% of the time - as do most other members of my suburban community. Our parks and sidewalks are mostly dog poop free.

Having said that, I've observed four cases where dog poop is more likely left behind.

1. Small dogs - owners of small dogs seem far more likely to leave dog poop behind. Perhaps because they think the poop is itself small?

2. Older owners (often owners of small dogs, but not always) - seem to care less.

3. Off leash dogs in parks - will often poop at the far edges of parks while their owners chat. Edges of parks and near bushes are minefields.

4. Rainy days - people just want to get home, clean off their dog and be done. So they seem more likely leave poop behind.

it's not a person issue, it's a systems problem in the same way that desire paths reflect bad design. regular garbage receptacles maintained by the city with poop bags would solve this issue but there's not one for miles in my neighborhood. similarly, human waste would be similarly reduced if there were more public restrooms that are maintained as part of the public good

problem is that it requires municipalities and counties to take ownership and they don't give a shit and thus we get the shit we deserve

>but there's not one for miles in my neighborhood.

Pet owners should know to bring bags with them, as they are taking the pet out for it to shit somewhere other than their yard.

It's 100% an asshole pet owner problem. Owning a pet that is shitting somewhere other than your own yard means bringing bags on walks and being prepared to hold that shit filled bag in your hand for the rest of the walk until you can throw it away at home.

It can be partially mitigated by having trashcans and poop bag dispensers, but I've stepped in dog shit next to a poop bag dispenser. Because having trashcans and bags be available doesn't change asshole pet owner habits.

Even if the pet owner picks up the defecation, they're usually not bleaching where it was laid, so bacteria still exists on that surface.

But also, hookworm infections are known to suppress allergies and asthma, help inflammatory bowl disease, and improve insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes.

Just because your immune system is fighting for your life against a parasite and doesn't have time for side quests doesn't make contracting a parasite good for you

Just because you call something a parasite doesn't make it bad for you. It might be bad, or good, or some of both, or depend on other factors at different times.

If you count cells and genes instead of mass, every human hosts more non-human life than human. Call them parasites and delete them and die.

Calling a symbiot a parasite does not make it a parasite.

Given that you know these terms you must be aware we have invented different words for organisms that have mixed effects (positive and negative) on the host organism. Parasite, commensalist and symbiote. If you don't want folks who know these words to argue with you you should not use the wrong ones.

Feel free to find an example of scientific literature referring to hookworms as either commensalist or symbiot in humans.

Feel free to explain how the labels change the facts. Examples of beneficial effects have already been cited from "scientific literature".

The argument was only to point out that just because labels are black & white doesn't mean life is black & white, and treating a label as reality is stupid.

No one went so far as to say "everyone should go get hookworm". That would also be a stupid thing to say, and more to the point: a stupid thing to think anyone was saying.

I believe the theory is the exact opposite. A hookworm calms the host's immune system.

You can get most of the benefits of walking barefoot without the hookworm by wearing a good pair of barefoot shoes. I personally love my Xero Prios. If you want the full experience at the expense of looking like a freak, you can get those Vibram Five Fingers toe shoes.

Why would that give you the benefits of walking barefoot? If the point is to pick up bacteria, shoes are shoes. It doesn't matter if the toes are separated or not.

GP said the benefits of walking barefoot are "feels good, increases your connection to your surroundings, and slows you down."

In that context it seems like barefoot shoes would still work. They are essentially foot condoms, so you get most of the same sensation without the potential ickiness.

Those are other benefits but the literal topic at hand--and the reason going barefoot was brought up in the first place--is to have contact with the earth.

One could simply use ballet shoes, instead of that overpriced stuff. They come in different styles, colors, materials, are foldable(ususally), and can be considered disposable.

It still squeezes your toes into a narrow toe box, which is pretty much the opposite of barefoot shoes.

Well how else are you expected to do en pointe whilst grounding oneself?

Not necessarily. They are rather thin and flexible. People walking tight ropes use them, too. Have you ever tried them?

Those people were walking barefoot near an unsanitary latrine. Is there a lot of human feces where you might walk barefoot? If not, you don't really have to worry about hook worm.

How did the southern US solve this issue? They just started building their latrines deeper.

I don't live in San Francisco, but I've heard stories...

The streets are power washed often enough that it's usually fine, at least if you're careful where you step.

Only when it comes to bulk piles of feces.

That powerwashing sprays it around everywhere though, and the contamination surface is massive.

It's also a likely contender for contributing to the spread of what people thought was smallpox after the arrival of Europeans to what became the U.S

One could wear barefoot shoes. Not that they are exactly the same as walking barefoot. They are still shoes! But a good compromise.

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