A recent survey of nearly 650 athletic trainers across the U.S. revealed that in the past 12 months nearly 76 percent of the respondents' athletic programs, mostly high school- and college-based, bacterial or viral skin infections have developed. This is up from 73 percent in 2008 and 67 percent in 2007. The good news - infection rates of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of staph infection that is resistant to many common antibiotics, stabilized at 49 percent, the same as reported in 2008.
The survey, conducted every year since 2006 at the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) annual meeting, also showed a significant increase in athletic trainers' roles in educating key groups including athletes (87 percent, up from 80 percent in 2008), coaches (80 percent, up from 62 percent in 2008) and athletes' families (40 percent, up from 30 percent in 2008). This is important since these groups are often the "first responders" when it comes to early identification and treatment of a skin infection such as MRSA or sports-related injury.
"While we would like to see the estimated number of skin infections decrease, we are encouraged by the role athletic trainers increasingly play in educating and supporting athletes, coaches and families," said Marjorie J. Albohm, MS, ATC, president of NATA. "MRSA continues to be an issue our members face on and off the field, but so are heat exhaustion, H1N1 and head concussions. Athletic Trainers deal with everything from cuts and sprains to potentially life threatening injuries on a daily basis."
MRSA is usually spread from person-to-person through direct skin contact or contact with shared items or surfaces such as towels, used bandages, hot and cold tubs, or weight-training equipment that have come in contact with the bacteria. MRSA infections in the community are usually manifested as skin infections, such as pimples and boils that are red, swollen and painful. MRSA can be life threatening when it enters the body through scrapes and scratches, potentially leading to blood and joint infections, and pneumonia. As the number of cases of MRSA has increased in the community, so have contact sports-related infections.