Assessment of Athletic Health Care Facility Surfaces for MRSA in the Secondary School Setting

Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) was once largely a hospital-acquired infection, but increasingly, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) is causing outbreaks among otherwise healthy people in athletic settings. Secondary school athletic trainers, student athletes, and the general stude...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental health 2010-01, Vol.72 (6), p.8-11
Main Authors: Montgomery, Kyle, Timothy J., Ryan, Krause, Andrew, Starkey, Chad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE
Athletes
Athletic trainers
Athletic training
Community-Acquired Infections - epidemiology
Community-Acquired Infections - prevention & control
Community-Acquired Infections - transmission
Cross infection
Diagnosis
Disease outbreaks
Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control
Environmental health
Equipment Contamination - prevention & control
Equipment Contamination - statistics & numerical data
Faucets
Health aspects
Health Facilities
High school sports
Humans
Infections
Locker rooms
Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification
Nosocomial infections
Ohio - epidemiology
Prevalence
Prevention
Preventive medicine
Public health
Risk Factors
Schools - statistics & numerical data
Secondary schools
Sports
Sports facilities
Sports training
Staphylococcal Infections - epidemiology
Staphylococcal Infections - prevention & control
Staphylococcal Infections - transmission
Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus infections
Staphylococcus infections
Training
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Description
Summary:Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) was once largely a hospital-acquired infection, but increasingly, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) is causing outbreaks among otherwise healthy people in athletic settings. Secondary school athletic trainers, student athletes, and the general student population may be at elevated risk of MRSA infection. To identify the prevalence of MRSA on surfaces in high school athletic training settings, 10 rural high school athletic training facilities and locker rooms were sampled for MRSA. Results showed 90% of facilities had two or more positive MRSA surfaces, while one school had no recoverable MRSA colonies. Of all surfaces tested (N= 90), 46.7% produced a positive result. From this limited sample, it is evident that significant exposure opportunities to MRSA exist in athletic training clinics and adjacent facilities for both the patient and the clinician. Furthermore, the fi ndings point to the need for community hygiene education about skin and soft tissue infections like MRSA.
ISSN:0022-0892