MRSA (Mersa) Questions

Coaches step up MRSA prevention

Link: The Gillette News-Record: Local.

“Just don’t share.” That’s one of the first things Tom Seamans tells his wrestlers at the beginning of each season. And it was a particularly salient message this year after cases of the so-called “superbug” have popped up across the country. The Campbell County High School head coach realizes that his athletes are at a greater risk than many others because their sport centers around skin-to-skin contact. * That’s why he doesn’t want them using other people’s towels, razors, soap or any other personal items.

Exercising caution on superbug

Link: Exercising caution on superbug on ChicagoSports.com.

"These infections have always been part of athletics," said Jeff Hageman, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "Most of our reports still come from most of the high-contact sports, but they do occur across all sports." Greater frequency of body-to-body contact is thought to put an athlete at higher risk. Football's turf abrasions and wrestling's mat burns are inviting hosts, but they're hardly alone. In major team sports, the list of high-profile athletes affected by MRSA reads like a roll call of champions, all-stars and record-breakers. Former Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa battled injuries and declining production with the Baltimore Orioles in 2005, his first season after leaving Chicago. He endured two stints on the disabled list that year, the first of which sidelined him for 16 games in May with an abscess and staph infection in his left foot. That staph infection was reported as MRSA.

SPORTSMITH Announces Availability of ViraGuard™

Link: PR-USA.net - SPORTSMITH Announces Availability of ViraGuard™ Sanitizing Products for Killing MRSA Virus on Hard S.

SPORTSMITH (www.sportsmith.net), the nation’s largest supplier of fitness equipment parts and fitness training products, announced the availability of ViraGuard™ a line of sanitizing products to kill the MRSA virus on all hard surfaces such as table tops, locker room benches, hand rails, counter tops, table tops and other hard non-porous surfaces in health and fitness clubs. Health Club operators should disinfect all hard surfaces which are non-porous, to aid in the removal of the MRSA virus. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), MRSA is usually transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact, contact with shared items or surfaces that have come into contact with someone else's infection (e.g., towels, used bandages).

Teen MRSA Survivor Loses Leg

Link: FOXNews.com

A Green Bay teen who had a potentially deadly staph infection is back home after nearly two months in the hospital. Thirteen-year-old DaVonte King landed at Children's Hospital in metro Milwaukee after he got sick following football practice Oct. 1. DaVonte had a bacterial infection known as MRSA and was on life support. In order to save him, surgeons had to amputate his left leg.

We need more research on MRSA and our sports fields

Link: We need more research on MRSA and our sports fields - Athletic Turf.

So, what does CA-MRSA have to do with sports turf managers? The short answer is plenty. There have been claims that CA-MRSA may survive (at least temporarily) in sports fields, including synthetic fields, thousands of which have been installed worldwide this past decade. Most of these fields feature a layer of rubber particles, sand or sometimes a combination of rubber and sand at the base of the poly fibers. The fibers, usually polyethylene, give the field its grass-like appearance and texture. Testing done on natural grass fields and the crumb rubber collected from several synthetic fields in June several summers ago by Dr. Andrew McNitt, associate professor of soil science at Penn State University, failed to discover the presence of MRSA bacteria. But, a recent study by an independent testing laboratory in Midland, MI, confirmed MRSA in the synthetic turf field it tested at a university. The university was unnamed in the report. (Report available upon request.) From a practical standpoint, experienced sports field managers still openly wonder if CA-MRSA can survive on a synthetic field under conditions of intensive sustained use, and under environmental conditions favorable to the survival of microbes

Two North Hills students get MRSA

Link: Two North Hills students get MRSA.

Two students in North Hills School District have contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, according to a letter posted on the district's Web site. The students attend North Hills Junior High School and North Hills Senior High, and both have been treated by their doctors, according to the letter.

Broad Ripple HS student treated for MRSA

Link: WTHR - Indianapolis News and Weather - Broad Ripple HS student treated for MRSA.

student from Broad Ripple High School is being treated for the MRSA staph infection tonight. That student was checked out by a doctor and cleared to return to class Monday, given continued use of antibiotics. The principal at the high school confirmed the case. Workers disinfected the school, and parents received a recorded phone call notifying them of the case.

MRSA cases confirmed in TPS - FOX23 News

Link: MRSA cases confirmed in TPS - FOX23 News.

Tonight there is word of four more confirmed cases of MRSA, the anti-resistant staph infection, in Tulsa Public Schools. The district says a teacher and student at Skelly Elementary, a teacher at Edison High School, and a student at Jones Elementary were all diagnosed with the superbug.

Nixa Schools Report MRSA

Link: News-Leader.com | Local News.

Health experts renewed their warnings about good hygiene after Nixa school officials on Friday confirmed two cases of a potentially dangerous staph infection in the junior and senior high schools. Neither case was related or serious — both were caught early.

MRSA confirmed at Milton Union

Link: MRSA confirmed at Milton Union.

According to a recorded telephone message sent after school hours Friday to parents of Milton-Union middle and elementary school students, the school district has confirmed one case of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). School was not canceled or dismissed early on Friday, but custodial staff did disinfect the school and all playground equipment, according to the telephone notificiation.