MRSA in Contact Sports

Step up and start your germ-free 2016!

Be on TOP OF YOUR GAME and protect yourself from skin diseases that can weigh you down. We at Matguard USA are ON YOUR TEAM in the fight against MRSA, so we’d love for you to know how to beat this threat before it hits. Particularly with contact sports, you can be an unknowing target simply through physical contact with infected persons or contaminated objects. Simply put, you can be caught unaware, and the culprit can be anywhere! You can put a stop to this and start by being informed through the article below.

via Alabama Department of Public Health (http://www.adph.org/)

Staphylococcus aureus, often reffered to simply as “staph,” is a bacteria commonly found on the skin and nares of healthy people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, S. aureus colonizes the nostrils of approximately 30% of the population without causing disease. When S. aureus gains entry into the body through a break in the skin, infection can occur. Approximately 1% of the population is colonized with community acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CAMRSA). CA-MRSA is more aggressive than other types of staph and is also resistant to the antibiotic commonly used to treat staph infections, methicillin (a type of penicillin). CA-MRSA infections are becoming more common. As a new sports season unfolds, athletes, especially those involved in highcontact sports, can become infected with this bacteria.

CA-MRSA, like all staph bacteria, are transmitted to people from infected skin lesions or colonized nasal discharge. Transmission occurs from one person to another via direct physical contact or indirectly through contaminated objects, such as towels, bar soaps, wound dressings, clothes or sports equipment. As most athletes are in frequent physical contact with others during both training and competition, they represent an “at risk” group for both typical staph and CA-MRSA infections.