Fw: a sign of the times

This may seem to some to be un-important and obscure..that high school wrestlers are contacting skin rashes. And yes, it has been rumored that jocks are pigs and prefer to stay in the natural unwashed state. But! It is another indications the MRSA staph infections are indiscriminate in who and where they land. It seems to be a ''form' which is prevalent in hospitals, jails and gyms. And of course it is resistant to most anti biotics. The best preventative is hygiene as they also stressed in this article. So I will add some home cures to the alternative treatments. Whether they are effective i don't know and have never seen a study report that they are. But i do know a nurse who.. was... using a form of essential oil called: Friars Balsam, which I notice can be purchased on line. Herb Pharm is a good herbal producer. This was in Asia that she had used this approach both for topical and sinuous infections. With sinuous infections they would flush with maybe a netty pot or a steam inhalant having added the Friar's Balsam.. I would also consider Tee Tree oil or maybe GSE (diluted ) and again for the topical infections and the GSE is also offered as oral capsules. This is not a recommendation just information that i was told may be effective in some situations. If the anti biotic is not effective we have to consider all options. But bottom line is continued sanitation by washing with soap and especially your hands. This nurse does not consider using anti bacterial hand soaps is a good approach as she felt it was best to just use soap. She was concerned the special soaps may weaken the natural resistance on our skins to topical infection. The "first world's" shower everyday just may have some down side problems. For anyone who wants more info on this situation the SF Chron has featured a few detailed articles regarding the on going staph infection problems in the bay area experienced by medical workers and hospital patients. Those using street drugs also are very vulnerable to topical infections and for those people it is doubly dangerous since their immune defenses are already questionable. Pestilence is in our future and our recent (1940 circa.) anti biotic defense is only a bothersome blip in their food menu. Bacteria is where ALL things that wiggle got their start way back in those dim and dark days.

----- Original Message ----- From: olcharlie To: larry lewis Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 8:47 AM
Subject: a sign of the times
Wrestlers grappling with infections
Skin diseases plague school competitors.
By Lisa Houk / The Fresno Bee 02/23/08 23:17:41
Young wrestlers, health officials, coaches and parents are scrambling to stay ahead of contagious skin diseases -- including a new and life-threatening strain of staph infection. Outbreaks soared last year among central San Joaquin Valley wrestling teams. The problem is serious enough that one athletic director, Chris Hansen of Buchanan High in Clovis, said he may pull his son out of the sport. Health and school officials are just beginning to address the problem systematically. Until new rules went into effect this month, doctors were not required to report serious staph infections in California, for example. The California Interscholastic Federation, which regulates high school sports, is planning a conference Monday in Sacramento with state health officials to address the issue. But the anecdotal evidence is everywhere: 10 Firebaugh High wrestlers came down with various skin infections last year. Three wrestlers at Gustine High were treated for staph infections and a form of herpes in January. McLane High forfeited a league match against Sunnyside in January because five wrestlers had contagious skin infections. Last year, two Clovis High wrestlers missed more than a week after contracting herpes, possibly at a tournament in Utah. In the San Diego County community of Encinitas, 13-year-old Brian Carbaugh died in January from a drug-resistant staph infection after possibly contracting it in a wrestling class. High school wrestling in Minnesota was suspended last year after 24 cases of herpes were reported on 10 teams. A big part of the problem, health officials say, is that many athletes don't shower, clean their gear or practice good hygiene. The bacteria can live on an unwashed knee pad for 50 days. The skin-to-skin contact and sweaty, moist environment in wrestling creates a breeding ground for bacterial infections like staph and viruses like herpes. "Our P.E. kids do not shower at Buchanan," Hansen said. "No one showers." Resistant to antibiotics Staph infections can be picked up from mats and other objects. A handshake or contaminated towel can transfer them. A staph infection can first appear as a red irritation on the skin, similar to a spider bite. If untreated, staph can develop into a life-threatening infection, said Shawn Elkin, a nurse specializing in communicable disease for the Fresno County Department of Community Health. Staph bacteria is one of the most common causes of skin infection in the United States, and nearly 19,000 died of drug-resistant staph infections in 2005, the latest year for which data are available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Dr. Elizabeth Bancroft, an epidemiologist for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said there is no reason to panic. Staph "is a concern. ... [But] twice as many die from flu." The infection can be minor, creating boils, pimples or rashes, or it can be deadly when it involves blood and bone infections, pneumonia and inflammation of the heart's lining. Minor infections typically are treated with antibiotics and/or topical creams, and pose no long-term effects. The type of staph infection that has been striking wrestlers is difficult to cure because it resists many antibiotics. Called CA-MRSA (community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), it looks identical to other forms of staph infections but usually doesn't respond to the first line of antibiotics. It's tricky to diagnose because it's usually seen as an abscess, boil or cellulitis.
Other skin infections that affect wrestlers are less dangerous, but can be disfiguring. They include ringworm, impetigo (skin blisters), cellulitis (spreading redness), dimple warts and herpes gladiatorum. Herpes, a nonsexually transmitted form of the viral infection, is transferred only by skin-to-skin contact, and it appears mainly on the head and face three to eight days after contact. The initial outbreak is the most severe. Another outbreak can appear weeks or months after the first, but it's usually less severe and shorter than the first one. Although the infection can stay in the body indefinitely, the number of outbreaks tends to decrease over a period of years. This season, McLane High wrestler Cameron Shipman ignored the little red bumps on his knees because he didn't know what they were. He washed his knees with anti-bacterial soap, but they didn't go away. "The red bumps were like zits with pus and they were itching and bugging me for about a week," said Shipman, a league champion at 189 pounds. "My coach saw my knees and said it didn't look right and it could be staph. I never had anything like that. I was freaked out, and I thought I was going to die." Shipman took medication for 10 days. The infection turned out to be impetigo and cleared up after three to four days. "I was out for over a week," he said. "I've always been clean, but now I shower more than anyone I know. I always bring four T-shirts to practice so I can change into a clean one." Getting kids to shower Wrestling coach Chris Cunningham makes it a rule that his three sons shower immediately after practice and matches. Connor Cunningham, 15, is a wrestler at Sierra High in Tollhouse; Christian, 11, wrestles at Foothill Middle School in Prather; and Colton, 6, is in his first year with a club team. "The boys must take a shower no matter what," said Cunningham, who coached the Sierra Mountain Warrior Club team, a feeder program for Sierra High, for the past seven years. "I always tell them, 'You gotta get that mat off of you.' My younger kids will fall asleep in the car after a match, but I carry them into the shower and soap them up, no matter how tired they are." Reminding the wrestlers to shower is one thing, but getting them to do it every day is another. Schools no longer require students to shower after physical education classes or athletic events. A variety of reasons have been cited: Modesty, budget cuts that eliminated towels, homophobia and privacy concerns that sparked a 1994 American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit in Pennsylvania. "If the doctors would tell the boys they could not kiss or hold hands with their girlfriends unless they showered, then that would be a way to enforce [hygiene] with the kids," said Roger Blake, the state CIF associate executive director. Blake oversees health and safety issues and the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee -- a group of 15 doctors. "Nobody requires [showering] anymore. It's a big issue statewide." Keeping it under control If coaches can't force students to shower, they have at least begun following stricter guidelines and distributing information on skin infections and hygiene to parents. All athletes must be examined for signs of infection when they weigh in before matches. If there are suspicious cuts or lesions, wrestlers must provide a physician's note before they can compete. Other precautions have been implemented: disinfecting the mats and athletic equipment, and placing Clorox disinfecting wipes at each scoring table to clean up blood.

olcharlie will nap for food