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Staph Infections in Sports

http://www.hbo.com/realsports/stories/2006/episode.106.s2.html

Rotator-cuff tendonitis, shin splints and torn anterior cruciate ligaments are a few of the disabilities suffered by athletes. Now add methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to the list. M.R.S.A. (Mersa) also known as a staph infection, plagues locker rooms across the country. Whether at the high school, college, or professional level, athletes are being attacked by a recently emerging antibiotic-resistant strain most frequently transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, towels and sweaty uniforms. High-profile cases, including Junior Seau of the Miami Dolphins, as well as the death of a college football player in Pennsylvania, have done little to increase public awareness, which is alarming, given that the Center for Disease Control had to be summoned to examine one NFL team's outbreak in St. Louis. With vigilance the only way to combat the condition, correspondent Frank Deford travels the fields where warriors are being victimized by their wounds. Interviews include St. Louis Rams Offensive Lineman Andrew McCollum; Rams head team physician Dr. Matthew Matava; Jeff Hageman of the Center for Disease Control; and Theresa Drew, whose son, Ricky Lanetti, a college athlete in Pennsylvania who died in 2003 from a Staph infection.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

Episode 106 January 17, 2006

Staph Infections in Sports

Serious skin infection new sports risk

by Airman 1st Class Micah Garbarino

Hilltop Times Staff

The Center for Disease Control recently released a report that cited clusters of a dangerous skin and soft tissue infection among athletes across the country.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aures is the long name for a stubborn staff infection — usually contracted in a health-care environment — that can cause fever, pus, pain and swelling. Severe cases can lead to hospitalization.

“It’s a staff infection with a fancy name because it doesn’t respond to penicillin-based medication. It mutated — kind of like STDs do — so you can’t treat it with the same stuff you normally would. There is treatment available it just isn’t as easy to get rid of,” said Doug Pierson, the Preventative Medicine manager for Public Health here.

According to the report, the CDC released the information to underscore the potential for MRSA infections among sports participants, the need for health care providers to identify sports-related skin infections as possible MRSA and the importance of preventing MRSA through good hygiene.

“Most people carry around bacteria, so this thing isn’t life threatening, but if you get it in an open wound or your immune system isn’t working properly, it can make you sick,” Pierson said.

In the athletic cases reported by the CDC — Colorado, Pennsylvania, Indiana and California — the transmission occurred from skin to skin contact, sharing the same equipment, such as helmets and jerseys, using the same towels or not bathing after a game or workout.

Those kinds of infections could happen anywhere, including the gym, because staff bacteria are all over the place, Pierson said.

The Hess Fitness Center has cleaning spray and towels available to wipe down the equipment. Using the cleaning spray before and after using a machine is a good idea, said Pierson.

“We wash all of our towels here several times a day. It seems like that is all we do, and it has always been a requirement to have disinfectant spray and towels available to wipe down the machines. We wash all of our players’ jerseys after every intramural game. We have six different jersey colors and we rotate all of them,” said Karen Wright, director of the Hess Fitness Center.

“Close to 25 percent of people have some sort of staph infection at one time — it can occur in the nose, throat or on the skin. People are in the gym working out, and their nose is running this time of year and they could have a staff infection in their nose. Just be sure to wash,” Pierson said.