USA Hockey Magazine published a great article about MRSA infections and hockey players.

"Bacteria can lurk on the equipment, which allows a means for infection to spread quickly among teammates, opponents and through an entire athletic program."

Read the entire story online to learn about the dangers of stinky equipment!

4.18.2007
Athletic Trainers Report Rise in MRSA Infections
According to a published report in the Washington Post, a survey found that more than half of athletic trainers in the U.S. said they've treated an athlete for a skin infection caused by the antibiotic-resistant "superbug" called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria.

The story explains that while MRSA infections typically aren't fatal, they can cause skin abscesses that require surgical draining, and the infections are likely to be resistant to first-line antibiotics. In some of the scarier cases, MRSA can cause serious and potentially fatal problems such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections and flesh-eating disease.
"This Web-based survey of 364 certified athletic trainers found that 53 percent said they'd treated MRSA skin infections in athletes. Of the infections treated: 86 percent were in males and 35 percent were in females; 65 percent were in football players; 21 percent in basketball players; and 20 percent were in wrestlers. The infections typically occurred in: the lower leg (38 percent); forearm (31 percent); and the knee (29 percent)."
Read the entire story from the Washington Post to learn why athletes are at increased risk for MRSA infection and what trainers should look for in their athletes.

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4.14.2007
MRSA Superbug Spreading Openly Across US and Canada
Earlier this year, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that "Clones of the antibiotic-resistant MRSA superbug which has infected a number of professional football and baseball athletes as well as children in day care centres in the US is set to take Canada by force."
"The Department of Infectious Diseases, and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto warn that a new MRSA mutant is quietly spreading outside of public awareness. Canadian health officials referred to this new strain of MRSA as 'an old foe with new fangs', a pathogen that combines 'virulence, resistance and an ability to disseminate at large'. Usually MRSA preys on vulnerable people like the elderly and people recovering from serious operations in hospital, but this new strain is infecting healthy people as well."
Because healthy people carry the bacteria in their nostrils and on the skin, MRSA can be contracted through skin to skin contact or sneezing in warm damp or steamy areas (public showers, changing rooms, and locker rooms).

Read more about the growing number of professional athletes who have been infected with MRSA, including three US National Football League (NFL) teams who have had to deal with multiple infections of the superbug, online.

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