Staph Infections Rise Among Athletes
Pastor Dale Morgan
Nov 25, 4:31 PM EST
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Staph Infections Rise Among Athletes*
By TOM WITHERS
AP Sports Writer
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Brian Russell had no idea what hit him. A guy who
routinely tackles 250-pound running backs head-on and occasionally gets
pulverized by rampaging 350-pound NFL linemen for a living nearly saw
his season end because of a microscopic germ. The Cleveland Browns
safety was flattened by a staph infection that hospitalized him during
the preseason.
"I went from being in tiptop shape, to a few hours later, being knocked
on my butt and having surgery," Russell said, recalling his scary scrape
with a skin bacteria that's becoming harder for antibiotics such as
penicillin to defeat.
"It happened just like that."
Stories like Russell's are becoming more common. Staph infections, in
varying and sometimes deadly forms, are being reported in greater
numbers across Ohio and nationwide as more virulent and resilient
strains are infecting high school, college and professional athletes.
Football players, wrestlers and even fencers have contracted
methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a serious superbug
once isolated to hospitals and health-care settings that has found its
way into locker rooms, weight rooms and athletic training facilities.
Despite widely available information about the dangers of skin
infections, staph has continued spreading.
"We don't know why," said Dr. Steve Gordon, the Cleveland Clinic's
department chairman of infectious disease. "It's why we encourage
everyone to practice proper hygiene, especially athletes who can be more
at higher risk."
An alarming rise in cases in the general population and athletic
community has led to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to
issue warnings about the dangers of staph. The CDC has worked closely
with several sports organizations, including the NFL and NCAA to educate
athletes on hygiene and preventive measures.
NFL players are advised to frequently wash their hands with soap and
water, to report skin lesions to their team's medical staff, to wash
cuts with soap and water and apply the proper dressings daily.
Still, the problem has grown.
Since 2003, at least three NFL teams - the Browns, St. Louis Rams and
Washington Redskins - have documented multiple cases of staph
infections. Last summer, two Toronto Blue Jays players contracted staph,
which prompted the club to have its clubhouse sterilized.
This fall, three high school football players in suburban Lakewood were
hospitalized for staph infections. Their school was one of several in
the Cleveland area that reported multiple staph cases this year. Health
officials aren't sure if the cases were related.
But even before the strain started spreading, staph has long been a
health hazard for athletes who share towels, whirlpools and common areas
like locker rooms.
The bacteria is typically found in the nasal passages and on the skin of
healthy people, but it is potentially deadly when it enters the body
through scratches and scrapes.
Once inside, it can cause blood and joint infections, and pneumonia.
"I was in the most pain that I have ever felt ever in my life," said
Cavaliers forward Drew Gooden, who contracted a staph infection in his
right leg three years ago while with the Orlando Magic. "I kept playing
on it, thinking it was going to heal but the infection got worse and
worse to the point where my leg swelled up and I couldn't bend my knee."
Athletes aren't alone as targets for staph.
A study this year funded by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention found that more than 59 percent of all skin infections in
U.S. emergency rooms have been caused by MRSA. The staph, which enters
through lesions in the skin and grows best in damp areas, has confounded
doctors and pharmacists looking for an antibiotic to fight it.
The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as
high as 74 percent in some hospitals, the study showed.
This summer, after five Redskins players were infected, the team had its
practice facility sprayed with a sterilizing agent that controls the
growth of bacteria and mold.
The club also installed new carpeting and painted the locker room,
weight room, training room and other areas at Redskins Park in Ashburn,
Va. In addition, benches in the locker room were replaced with
individual wooden stools for each player, and a 15-year-old whirlpool
bath was removed.
The team has had no incidents of staph since.
"The thing that I think is most important is educating the players what
to look for, being smart about when you have an open skin lesion, don't
be getting in common whirlpools and things like that. You've got to
really clean them good after you get them," said Bubba Tyer, the
Redskins' trainer for 35 years.
"In the old days, when we played on Astroturf when it was new, remember
all the burns and everything we'd get? We'd always put a bottle of
surgical scrub soap in the shower and let them shower with that," he
said. "We've done things like that, and it's working out well so far."
MRSA is passed person-to-person through skin contact, and while its
symptoms are normally mild, it can be fatal if left untreated.
In 2003, Ricky Lannetti, 21, a senior wide receiver at Lycoming College
in Williamsport, Pa., died suddenly from a staph infection. Friends and
teammates remembered him not feeling well leading up to his final game,
but he didn't think anything was seriously wrong.
For Russell, a tender elbow at first seemed like nothing out of the
ordinary. He figured it came from one of many blows taken and given
during training camp and in an Aug. 26 preseason game on the artificial
turf in Buffalo.
But as he relaxed at home during an evening a few days after facing the
Bills, Russell complained to his wife, Leslie, that he was hurting more
than normal.
"She was like, 'C'mon, get outta here, you get those (scratches) every
day,'" he said.
"It didn't look like anything to worry about," she said.
But overnight, Russell's sore elbow became horribly swollen and he and
Leslie knew something was wrong.
"In a couple hours, it blew up, Russell said. "It was real, real big. By
the time they got me to the hospital, my arm was overrun by the infection."
While not an outbreak, the Browns' alarming rise in staph cases brought
the club to request assistance from the Cleveland Clinic, its healthcare
provider and a sponsor. The Clinic twice sent a team to examine the
team's headquarters and indoor practice field house in Berea, Ohio.
The Clinic concluded the team was following proper procedure and CDC
recommendations to prevent staph and that the five cases involving
players were unrelated.
Russell's bout with staph was similar to what happened to teammates Ben
Taylor and Braylon Edwards, who both had elbow scratches that became
infected. Browns tight end Kellen Winslow and center LeCharles Bentley
battled staph following knee surgeries.
Russell credited team trainer Marty Lauzon and the team's medical staff
for making a quick diagnosis and getting him treatment.
"It was crazy," he said, rubbing his hand over the long incision scar on
his right elbow. "Lucky for me our doctors recognized it immediately."
Russell, who has begun wearing long sleeves as protection and a
precaution, will never look at a cut the same way.
"All I had was a sore elbow, something where you think you might have
knocked it on a door or on a wall," he said. "It was a little abrasion
that I've had thousands of times."
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On the Net:
Cleveland Browns: http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/
Cleveland Clinic: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/