The crew of a nuclear submarine on patrol was examined for evidence of tinea pedis. Fifty-six men (38.3 per cent) were found to possess lesions suggestive of this disease. Laboratory diagnosis demonstrated the incidence of my-cologically proven tinea pedis to be 13 per cent. A high relative incidence (43.8 per cent) of infections with Tricophyton rubrum was encountered, the overall infection rate with this fungus being 4.8 per cent. The incidence of both lesions and mycologically proven disease was found to be significantly greater in that group of men wearing heavy foot attire during the working day. In this section of the crew the incidence of infection was 21.8 per cent compared with 7.6 per cent in those men wearing only well-ventilated foot attire. No significant bias of infection towards the users of any particular bathroom was detected and frequency of infection could not be correlated with length of service in the Royal Navy or Submarine Service. It appears that confinement within a nuclear submarine does not result in epidemic tinea pedis and it seems probable that the major limiting factor is the wearing of well ventilated footwear by all men for the greater part of each day.
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M. D. Catterall (1975) studied this question.