A comparative study of the cutaneous microflora of normal feet with low and high levels of odour.

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 (78% 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 with low odour. No association was observed between 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.