Fighting Staph Infections

[ACM Dad]

It's that time of year again, feel free to print this out and give to your favorite football player and their family.



Things you can do to help prevent your athlete from contracting MRSA (Methycillin-resistant Staph. aureus):



1) Players should shower at the complex with antibacterial soap as soon after activity as possible.

(The longer the bacteria stays on them, the longer it can work.)

2) Players should bring home and wash football clothes every night. (Clothes must be washed in 160

degree water to kill bacteria.)

3) Dry football clothes on hottest dryer setting – do not air dry.

4) Pads and helmets should be disinfected with a product that will kill MRSA (something as simple as 1

part water/10% bleach in a spray bottle)

5) Players should always use a clean, dry towel and not reuse their locker room towel.

6) Players should wear shower shoes.

7) Send a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer to be kept in locker and use liberally.

8) Keep bedroom and bathroom clean at home, washing sheets/pillow cases regularly.

9) Finally, make sure that a player who has a red spot or pimple is seen ASAP by a doctor. (MRSA

attacks fast and can only be killed by a limited number of antibiotics.)

[CedarHillDad]

Thx for the GOOD INFO!

[pack75]

Thanks ACM Dad!:)

[bleedgreen]

had one of those last summer.....definitely not much fun at all!! right on my beltline, about the size of a silver dollar....had to go to the ER and have it lanced with a knife and squeezed out---some of the worst pain i have ever experienced(besides a kidney stone)...doctor said i contracted it in the weight room....MRSA got into a hair follicle and took its course....rough stuff!!

[bleedsgreen]

My sister had a pimple on her leg and turned into MRSA and they almost took her leg.

[chhspantherfan]

seems everyone can relate, my father-in-law did a week in a coma and lost two toes to MRSA. Drs didn't know what it was for first week. It was touch and go for a while. Bad stuff............

[FarmerFootballPlayer]

Erm... I know I sound dumb, but what's the difference between a normal acne type pimple and the pimples caused from staph?

[WOS87]

Here's a link to a brochure I give to my patients participating in team sports on the topic...

Community acquired MRSA and Athletics (http://www.mrsaresources.com/Downloads/MRSAinAthletics.pdf)

[ACM Dad]

on the pimple thing, it's basically this.... if you have any open wound of any sort, you better be cleaning it well. And, you need to watch it. If the skin around it starts to get inflammed, you just can't screw around with it.

I cut and pasted that stuff in the original post from the training staff at Texas A&M.

[HebronDad]

on the pimple thing, it's basically this.... if you have any open wound of any sort, you better be cleaning it well. And, you need to watch it. If the skin around it starts to get inflammed, you just can't screw around with it.

I cut and pasted that stuff in the original post from the training staff at Texas A&M.

Thanks ACM Dad...

Great info. In talking with our team doctor, this nasty stuff is here to stay. This use to be a rare occurance, but now it seems common. We had several kids fight this stuff last year. It's a tough bug and should not be taken lightly. The Doc. said that if you see a small infection/pimple with a black head/center, get to the doctor immediately. Don't take a chance...


Thanks again...

[HebronHawk]

Once it gets in a locker room, it never seems to leave.

[drgnbkr]

This is a serious and helpful thread, but I saw the title and it made me think it was a team name..like fighting farmers or somesuch.."The Fighting Staph Infections take the field"!

[DiamondJ2]

Should a player with a staph infection be allowed to practice or be in the locker or shower room?

[dragonsdaddy]

Should a player with a staph infection be allowed to practice or be in the locker or shower room?

the carriers of staph are more dangerous to others. they harbor the bug in their nasal passages. they themselves tend to have more staph infections, and can easily pass it on to others.

on a brighter note, the community-acquired mrsa, while not a good thing, is nothing compared to hospital-acquired mrsa.

[bleedgreen]

My sister had a pimple on her leg and turned into MRSA and they almost took her leg.

that pimple was the starting of staph...that's how it begins...it looks as if it is a pimple, but its really not...the MRSA had already found its way into a hair follicle....

[Mean DT]

It's that time of year again, feel free to print this out and give to your favorite football player and their family.



Things you can do to help prevent your athlete from contracting MRSA (Methycillin-resistant Staph. aureus):



1) Players should shower at the complex with antibacterial soap as soon after activity as possible.

(The longer the bacteria stays on them, the longer it can work.)

2) Players should bring home and wash football clothes every night. (Clothes must be washed in 160

degree water to kill bacteria.)

3) Dry football clothes on hottest dryer setting – do not air dry.

4) Pads and helmets should be disinfected with a product that will kill MRSA (something as simple as 1

part water/10% bleach in a spray bottle)

5) Players should always use a clean, dry towel and not reuse their locker room towel.

6) Players should wear shower shoes.

7) Send a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer to be kept in locker and use liberally.

8) Keep bedroom and bathroom clean at home, washing sheets/pillow cases regularly.

9) Finally, make sure that a player who has a red spot or pimple is seen ASAP by a doctor. (MRSA

attacks fast and can only be killed by a limited number of antibiotics.)Thanks for the info Doc.:D

[FarmerFootballPlayer]

on the pimple thing, it's basically this.... if you have any open wound of any sort, you better be cleaning it well. And, you need to watch it. If the skin around it starts to get inflammed, you just can't screw around with it.

I cut and pasted that stuff in the original post from the training staff at Texas A&M.

Ah, I see. Thanks a lot. They don't explain a whole lot of what staph actually is to us, but we take all sorts of precautions and then some to prevent it. It was kind of a problem in middle school, but I haven't heard of it since I've been in high school. Thanks again for the information.

[Kingwolf]

the carriers of staph are more dangerous to others. they harbor the bug in their nasal passages. they themselves tend to have more staph infections, and can easily pass it on to others.

on a brighter note, the community-acquired mrsa, while not a good thing, is nothing compared to hospital-acquired mrsa.

I couldn't disagree with you more. I have seen patients admitted with MRSA who have never been hospitalized. Many of these patients are forced to go home on the most powerful antibiotics known to man for sometimes six months to a year. The drugs have to be given intravenously and monitored closely for affects on the kidneys or platelet destruction depending on the drug.

When it comes down to the severity of MRSA, it is all about the strain of the bacteria. It doesn't matter where you get it...

[DiamondJ2]

the carriers of staph are more dangerous to others. they harbor the bug in their nasal passages. they themselves tend to have more staph infections, and can easily pass it on to others.

on a brighter note, the community-acquired mrsa, while not a good thing, is nothing compared to hospital-acquired mrsa.

thanks all for info. Not sure what type of staph infection the two players have, but they are still practicing. One of them has been fighting it since last spring.

[chhspantherfan]

Here's a link to a brochure I give to my patients participating in team sports on the topic...

Community acquired MRSA and Athletics (http://www.mrsaresources.com/Downloads/MRSAinAthletics.pdf)

thanks, I passed the link on to the coaches.

[dragonsdaddy]

I couldn't disagree with you more. I have seen patients admitted with MRSA who have never been hospitalized. Many of these patients are forced to go home on the most powerful antibiotics known to man for sometimes six months to a year. The drugs have to be given intravenously and monitored closely for affects on the kidneys or platelet destruction depending on the drug.

When it comes down to the severity of MRSA, it is all about the strain of the bacteria. It doesn't matter where you get it...

i treat at least 10-15 per week, and i have yet to find one that was resistant to septra, tho i don't disagree that the strain is the key. most community acquired are relatively b-9. your examples are in the minority, and lets pray it stays that way. i suspect that the bad strains of which you speak, came from a hospital patient, somehow. none of my statements are meant to dissuade people from seeking treatment, but in reality, if you get the bad player, it may be too late from day one. if it is resistant, it usually starts out that way.

[ACM Dad]

We had some issues with staph at the local HS last year and we brought in some kind of machines and now we leave them in the lockerrooms to fight staph. I do not believe we've had an issue since then. I believe these machines use UV light to turn O2 into O3 (ozone). Ozone kills bacteria. I'm pretty sure this is the technology that we use. I could be wrong. I'm not sure there is anything else out there that actually works though.

[dragonsdaddy]

We had some issues with staph at the local HS last year and we brought in some kind of machines and now we leave them in the lockerrooms to fight staph. I do not believe we've had an issue since then. I believe these machines use UV light to turn O2 into O3 (ozone). Ozone kills bacteria. I'm pretty sure this is the technology that we use. I could be wrong. I'm not sure there is anything else out there that actually works though.

you are likely correct. staph is an anaeobe and thus is killed by oxygen. hydrogen peroxide uses that principle to do it's killing. ozone has the extra o atom and is an effective anti-microbial.