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Causes of Podoconiosis
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This scanning electron micrograph shows shards of volcanic ash in the soil that may penetrate the skin and result in podoconiosis. The photograph is 1/50th inch across.
Ernest Price, a British surgeon living in Ethiopia, figured out in the 1970' s that podoconiosis was caused by years of barefoot exposure to red clay soil. Scientists are still investigating which particle or mineral within this soil causes the problems; it may be very tiny grains of silica that are responsible, or some other soil component. However, not everyone living barefoot on the soil gets the disease, and there is strong evidence for a genetic component to disease causation. The unlucky minority of people with genetic susceptibility who go barefoot seem to develop an inflammatory reaction to soil particles, resulting in podoconiosis.