bare feet and wild berries

hi mh

got a couple of questions for ya.

with regard to bare feet, are there any dangers in contrating parasites or other pathogens through the feet? i can remember as a child in arkansas, i never wore shoes. i could run in sharp gravel without any discomfort. there was plenty of red clay, sandstone and black shale to traverse, yet the only problem i ever encountered was running in the manicured lawn of a relative one time and stepping on the broken shard of a coca-cola bottle. the scar, which ran from the ball of my foot all the way to the other side, now only goes halfway across since my foot has doubled in size since then. i bled like a stuck hog and required stitches.

the other question arose when you mentioned wild berries. i remember the blackberries and dewberries of my youth, and as i recall, you couldnt get near them without comming away chiggers and tics of all kinds, including the dreaded seed tics as we called them. tiny little buggers! and they went straight for where the sun never shines. what is your opinion of lyme disease? a quick overview would be nice. thanks.