High schools on watch for football staph infection

AMARILLO, Texas High school football teams across the country are practicing for the upcoming season, and athletic trainers traditionally concerned with heat stroke and heat exhaustion are adding another ailment to their watch list: staph infection.

According to studies of some Texas high schools, football players are two to three times more likely than others to become infected with MRSA, a form of staph infection resistant to common antibiotics. If the bacteria enter a person's blood stream, MRSA can turn deadly.

MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, infections have been found in hospitals for decades, but have become increasingly common in recent years. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study last year found the bacterium kills nearly 19,000 Americans a year.

According to a 2004 study of teams from South Texas including Houston and San Antonio, 73 schools reported 81 MRSA infections in its 10,186 football players. That's a rate three times higher than volleyball players, trainers, managers and coaches in those schools.

A similar 2005 study found Texas football players were two times more likely to contract MRSA than those who compete in wrestling.

.story-ad {

width: 310px;

float: left;

margin: 0 10px 10px 0;

padding: 4px;

}

- Advertisement -

OAS_AD('x22');

Football players are at higher risk than those in other sports because football is a group-contact game.

"They're generally in more physical contact, so there is more opportunity to spread it from one person to another," said Marilyn Felkner, epidemiologist with the Department of State Health Services.

MRSA is most commonly spread outside from skin-to-skin contact and sharing towels and razors.

"It's something that I think parents should be proactive about," she said.

High schools take that lesson to heart, according to Larry Thom, a high school athletic trainer in Amarillo, Texas. There, an athlete with MRSA can't compete without a doctor's approval.

"Whether they are MRSA or not, we do cover all open wounds," Thom said.

The school system has educational materials posted on walls and talks to coaches during the year about prevention and recognition on top of yearly training sessions.

"The main thing is there is just good personal hygiene," Thom said.