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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...

Background. Athletics-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have become a high-profile national problem with substantial morbidity. Methods. To investigate an MRSA outbreak involving a college football team, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of all 100 players. A case was defined as MRSA cellulitis or skin abscess diagnosed during the period of 6 August (the start of football camp) through 1 October 2003. Results. We identified 10 case patients (2 of whom were hospitalized). The 6 available wound isolates had indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns (MRSA strain USA300) and carried the Panton-Valentine leukocidin toxin gene, as determined by polymerase chain...

Skin infections associated with contact with synthetic turf have received national attention in recent years, but there is no scientific evidence to support concern that the surfaces of infilled synthetic turf (the kind containing crumb rubber found in all fields built since the late 1990's) harbor the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, the bacteria that cause MRSA, says a recent study. (Serensits, McNitt, and Petrunak 2011). Two previous studies (Kasakova 2005; Begier 2004) examined the causes and the role of infilled synthetic turf in MRSA outbreaks in football teams. While both studies concluded that turf burns caused by synthetic turf could facilitate skin infection...