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Athletic mouthguards or mouthpieces are critical pieces of equipment in contact sports like football, hockey, and boxing. The American Dental Association recommends them for all contact sports. But despite the fact that mouthguards are important protective equipment in these sports, athletes often pay little attention to their care and sanitation. A new study published in the May-June 2011 edition of Sports Healthsheds light on the microorganisms that can contaminate protective mouthguards. Richard T. Glass, PhD, DDS et al. divided 62 Division I football players into four groups and then performed microbial analysis on the mouthguards of players in those groups....

A handful of the more than 300 FDNY probationary firefighters training on Randall's Island have contracted the antibiotic-resistant bacteria MRSA, officials confirm. A type of staph infection, MRSA can spread quickly in highly populated environments like schools, gyms and hospitals. At medical facilities, MRSA can cause life-threatening bloodstream infections, pneumonia and surgical site infections. Off-Duty Cop Made U-Turn Before Deadly Crash: Witnesses The FDNY would not say exactly how many trainees were infected on Randall's Island, but says those infected are being treated and extra precaution is being taken for them to continue to train. The department said in a...

In the movie "Jaws," actor Roy Scheider was able to get the better of a monster, a killer great white shark. But in real life, the macho actor succumbed to an entirely different kind of monster after he was weakened by cancer. The National Football League spends millions on revamping its 32 teams' training facilities, installing state-of-the art hygienic safeguards and educating its coaches, trainers, and doctors about maintaining proper hygiene in training. And still its players are often felled by the same monster that killed Scheider. Hospitals create educational campaigns, plaster their walls with informational posters and caveats, and...

Firefighters and medics may be, perhaps not surprisingly, at a higher risk for carrying methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA) than the average person, according to results from a new study conducted by Marilyn Roberts, a University of Washington professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. Roberts, a microbiologist, recently conducted the first-ever environmental health study on MRSA in Northwest fire stations and on fire personnel to determine the extent of related contamination.   In the last ten years, the number of hospital- and community-acquired MRSA infections—those often contracted in schools, public gyms, and in workplaces--has risen. Because MRSA can be transmitted from...

Being a fitness buff and a germaphobe is not a good combination. If you're wondering why, it's because your local gym is positively swimming with bacteria, fungus and other things that make you go "ah-choo" in the night. But fear not! Before you buy a containment suit and set your gym membership card on fire, rest assured that these common germs are easily avoided and much less frightening than they sound. Which is why we've provided a handy list of germs that have been found in gyms, what they actually are (in English) and how you can get them. So...