You can make words *bold*, /italic/, _underlined_, =code= and ~verbatim~, and, if you must, ‘+strike-through+’. Text in the code and verbatim string is not processed for Org-mode specific syntax, it is exported verbatim.

So a caption like this doesn't export italicized a, b, c, and d (presumably because this is a code string):

#+CAPTION: Pumice collected from pāhoehoe flows at Manini`ōwali: /a/, pieces that sink in fresh water; /b/, pieces without obvious crystallization or coating (Category A); /c/, pieces with obvious crystallization but no coating (Category B); /d/, pieces with obvious coating (Category C). The scale is 1 cm.

Is there a common work-around for this that will produce correct LaTeX and HTML using the org-mode exporters?

And, this is just a question and not a feature request or a request for changes to org-mode, would it be hard to change org-mode's behavior so that markup like /a/ in the #+CAPTION: string exports correctly marked-up text to LaTeX and HTML?

All the best,

Tom