With the beginning of the winter youth sports season come injuries. Many common injuries, such as sprains, strains, fractures and concussions,1 are hard to prevent. Some injuries, however, including bacterial skin infections like Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (CA-MRSA), impetigo and folliculitis, are preventable - but only if athletes, coaches, and parents take common sense precautions.
The bad news is that skin infections have become a serious problem in wrestling,2 and that, while skin infections still rank well down the list of football injuries (knee, head/face, and ankle injuries are still the top three),1 outbreaks among football programs have become more common in recent years.
The good news is that outbreaks infecting an entire football program are preventable. Bacterial skin infections, especially MRSA, spread from athlete to athlete as a result of skin-on-skin contact, from sharing infected items in the locker room (such as towels, used bandages, or razors), or through contact with infected surfaces (hot and cold tubs, weight-training equipment, artificial turf [1]). Taking steps to minimize or eliminate such skin-to-skin or surface-to-skin contact can keep infections from spreading from one football player to an entire 100-athlete program.
Here's what a skin infection prevention plan should include:
To prevent skin infections, parents can:
Grant Doornbos, MD, is a resident in the department of anesthesiology at the University of Louisville Medical Center and a former NCAA Division I wrestler.
1. Safe Kids USA. (2009). Sport and Recreation Safety Fact Sheet . Retrieved July 27, 2010, from Safe Kids USA: http://www.safekids.org/our-work/research/fact-sheets/sport-and-recreati... [3]
2. Comstock, D. (2010). National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study. Ohio: Center for Injury Research and Policy, Nationwide Children's Hospital.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings: Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. MMWR 2002;51(No. RR-16):[13-14].
4. Paulson, D. "Persistent and Residual Antimicrobial Effects: Are They Important in the Clinical Setting?" Infection Control Today (2005); 9.
Links:
[1] https://www.momsteam.com/node/589
[2] https://www.momsteam.com/node/3070
[3] http://www.safekids.org/our-work/research/fact-sheets/sport-and-recreation-safety-fact-sheet.html
[4] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/correct-hand-washing-technique-preventing-spread-skin-infections-in-athletics
[5] https://www.momsteam.com/sports/football-tackle/safety/good-personal-hygiene-key-to-preventing-spread-of-mrsa-experts-say
[6] https://www.momsteam.com/sports/football-tackle/safety/mrsa-risk-increased-by-artificial-turf-study-says
[7] https://www.momsteam.com/mrsa/mrsa-skin-infections-frequently-asked-questions