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BY MARTIN ZABELL
Times Correspondent | Friday, January 25, 2008 | (No comments posted.)
Bloom Twp. and District 206 have become very proactive about trying to prevent various diseases, including impetigo and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.
Athletic director Joe Reda's personal understanding of the latter issue is a key reason for the district's aggressiveness. His father, Richard, contracted the infectious and contagious disease last spring, and the son learned a lot about it during his dad's recovery.
When Joe Reda found out in October that MRSA was on the rise, he acted quickly. Within weeks, the football and wrestling teams' locker room was closed so it could be steam-cleaned and disinfected for the first time.
Since then, the wrestlers have removed their clothes from their lockers weekly and washed them at home. This is a new routine caused by the MRSA scare.
"(MRSA) is now something that we're looking for," said Reda, who never heard of it until his father contracted it in a hospital while recovering from an operation that cured him of esophageal cancer.
"We think we've done a good job keeping ahead of the game. It wasn't until the MRSA outbreak this fall that we started doing things differently."
MRSA is caused by bacteria found on the skin or nose and can cause death if it reaches internal organs. It has been a major concern since the Oct. 17 Journal of the American Medical Association said that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 94,360 Americans had MRSA in 2005 and 18,650 died.
In 2005, more Americans died of MRSA than AIDS and 50 other infectious diseases, and the number of Americans hospitalized because of it was more than double what it was in 1999. After the article was published, there was a tenfold increase in MRSA news stories in late October, reported the Medical College of Wisconsin Health News.
The CDC's numbers were disturbing. A disease once almost solely confined to hospital patients began appearing in the community in the late 1990s, and this strain is "more virulent," reported MCW Health News.
In recent months, youths in New York and Virginia died of MRSA and dozens of schools, including several in Illinois, reported students with the infection.
Locally, a Marian Catholic student and an unspecified student or teacher at St. Ann School in Lansing contracted MRSA, but neither case was contagious.
The increased interest in MRSA spurred schools to take precautions. Many coaches are particularly concerned because, according to MayoClinic.com, contact sports and the sharing of towels or athletic equipment trail only young age as the biggest risk factors for community-acquired MRSA.
In addition, bacteria is "spread easily through cuts and abrasions and skin-to-skin contact." Thus, wrestlers and football players are among the athletes most at risk.
The Texas Department of State Health Services concluded that infection rates for its prep football players between 2003 and 2005 were 16 times higher than U.S. rates. In Pennsylvania, many schools suspended their wrestling programs last month because of athletes who had herpes gladiatorium -- a skin infection often called "mat herpes" that is communicable, but not as serious as MRSA.
Local wrestling coaches said they have taken safeguards against skin infections for years.
"The last two years, we have had no case of skin infection," T.F. South coach Mike Tisza said. "When (students) get it, it's because they don't listen.
"The main thing is to be preventative and be aware of it. Awareness is the key."
Because infections can be spread by skin-to-skin contact and cuts, wrestlers are checked for abrasions, scars and infections like ringworm by referees before every meet. Mats are also cleaned and sanitized regularly.
Nevertheless, coaches advise their athletes to be careful.
"I talked to them at the beginning of the season," Crete-Monee coach George Hiler said. "I told them if they have cuts or abrasions, you need to let me know and go to the doctor."
Contamination and poor hygiene are also risk factors, so cleanliness is also stressed. Bloom coach Tom Tong said his coaches wash the school's mats twice a day and advise the wrestlers to shower every day, change clothes after every practice and not share water bottles.
The athletes are also given a cream that prevents them from contracting infections from their opponents.
"It's good for four to six hours," said Tong. "It's like putting on a sun block before you go to the beach."
At T.F. South, mats have been reconditioned, washed regularly and disinfected, and wrestlers are given preventative skin cream and advised to wipe their shoes off on mop heads.
The recent MRSA scare has gotten school administrators not involved in sports more involved in prevention. At Marian, the MRSA case spurred a disinfecting of the entire school and students about to eat lunch were given disinfectant wipes.
Reda didn't need a principal to tell him what to do. For two weeks, he wore a hospital gown, mask and paper boots while visiting his now-healthy father.
The precautions Bloom is taking may prevent the extreme action required if someone contracts a serious case of MRSA.
"I know how serious it was," Reda said. "Just by being in the room with MRSA, you could contract it by touching something or breathing something. You had to wash your hands before you went in and out of the room."
Tips to combat MRSA
In an effort to combat MRSA, MayoClinic.com has a number of tips for people.
They include:
1. Wash your hands: Hands should be scrubbed briskly for at least 15 seconds and then dried with a disposable towel. You should use a different towel to turn off the faucet and carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol when you don't have access to soap and water.
2. Keep items personal: You should avoid sharing personal items such as towels, sheets, razors, clothing and athletic equipment.
3. Keep wounds covered: Cuts and abrasions should be kept clean and covered with sterile, dry bandages until they heal. The pus from infected sores may contain MRSA, and keeping wounds covered will help keep the bacteria from spreading.
4. Shower: Showers immediately after each game or practice are recommended. Soap and water should be used, and towels should not be shared.
5. Sit out competition: When you are concerned about an infection, you should not participate in games or practices. A wound that is red, swollen, warm to the touch or tender might be an infection.
6. Sanitize linens: If you have a cut or sore, you should wash towels and bed linens in a washing machine set to the "hot water" setting and dry them in a dryer. In addition, athletic clothes should be washed after each wearing.
7. Get tested: If you have a skin infection that requires treatment, ask your doctor if you should be tested. Testing specifically for MRSA may get you the antibiotic you need to effectively treat your infection.
8. Use antibiotics appropriately: When you're prescribed an antibiotic, take all of the doses even if the infection is getting better. Don't stop until your doctor tells you to stop. Don't share antibiotics with others or save unfinished antibiotics for another time.
Recognizing MRSA
According to MayoClinic.com, staph infections like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites.
The bumps can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. The bacteria can remain confined to the skin, but it can also spread deep into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says MRSA can be spread through close skin-to-skin contact, openings in the skin such as cuts or abrasions, contaminated items and surfaces, crowded living conditions and poor hygiene.
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