" It's not the sport that stinks --- It's your helmet "
Bacteria
What's growing in my gear?
Sports padding for hockey players, football players and lacrosse players, for example, are the ideal breeding ground for trouble. A strong is usually the result of a mixture of sweat, mucus, blood, dirt, and other substances, which create the perfect environment for bacteria, mold, and fungus to thrive in. Here is a sample of what is found in the typical gear:
- Staphylococcus Epidermis - Gloves, Elbow Pads, & Shoulder Pads
- Staphylococcus Aureus - Helmet - leads to pimples, boils and complicated skin infections
- Streptococcus Veridans - Shin Guards & Elbow Pads - normally found in the mouth
- Streptococcus Faecalis - Hockey Jock / Jill - associated with stool and fecal material
- Environmental Bacteria - Picked up from water fountains
- Yeast - Normally found on skin surfaces and in the intestinal tracts
Is there a health risk?
Bacteria and surface molds can enter the body through cuts and abrasions, causing more severe infections. Some are aggressive, long-lasting and can expand into other areas of the body. Remember the 5 ways (5 C's) for contracting infections mentioned above? Contact sports often involve crowding of people, skin contact, cuts, contamination of locker rooms and lack of cleanliness when it comes to protective gear (helmets, pads, gloves, etc).
Thus, athletes specifically need to be concerned.
What is MRSA?
MRSA is a form of "staph infection" caused when Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria, that is resistant to the family of antibiotics, enters the body. These enter the body through cuts and abrasions and can lead to pneumonia, joint and blood-stream infections. MRSA usually appears, at first, as "spider bites" or small boils in the skin. If you experience any like the ones pictured here, consult a physician.
What can be done?
NATA, the National Athletic Trainers Association, recommends that athletes avoid sharing towels, razors, and daily athletic gear. Also strongly recommended is to clean and disinfect protective equipment such as helmets, shoulder pads, catcher's equipment and hockey goalie equipment on a regular basis.
Helmet Spa® cleaning machine destroys harmful bacteria in sports equipment and helps prevent the spread of disease.
Science and history are excellent professors.
Lab tests indicate that a professional cleaning service can kill and remove 99.9997% of the bacteria found in sports equipment. How serious are bacteria in sports? The CDC reports that:-
10 Pennsylvania college football players were infected in September 2000
2 Los Angeles-area college football players were hospitalized from MRSA in September 2002, one of whom required surgery and skin grafts
2 Indiana high school wrestlers were infected in January 2003
5 Colorado fencers were infected in February 2003
7 University of Southern California football players were infected in August 2003; 4 required hospitalization
7 Wisconsin high school football players were infected in October 2003, with one requiring hospitalization
1 Pennsylvania college football player died from MRSA in December 2003
3 Texas children from athletic teams at Texas schools died in 4 months in 2003
1 child in Athens, AL, 14 years old, died on December 20, 2004 after battling a staph infection.
Why wash your sports equipment?
Think about it...we wash everything else except our sports equipment.In most cases, we all wash our clothing after a single use. In most cases, the daily usage of clothing does not involve sweaty activity, yet we toss it the into the laundry each day after a single use. The garment is dry and may sit in the hamper for a few days before a load is run.
Now think about your sports equipment. From August until December, football players wear helmets and shoulder pads five/six days per week. After each use, it's placed into a dark locker, set warm and wet from the sweat. The sweat from both their own body and that of others they may have collided with on the field. The gear picks up the dirt and dust from the field and the sweat, blood, mucus, and spit from other participants. When does it get cleaned? The warm, dark, moist atmosphere of the locker is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. The same can be said for hockey equipment. Once off the player, it's back in the hockey bag and stored in the trunk.
The odor emanating from sports equipment is the bacteria, mold, mildew and fungus that forms from improper care and a lack of cleaning. Football equipment is sent out after the season is over to a host of reconditioners and recertifiers, with whom the schools have long standing contracts. These businesses ensure the gear's protective integrity and function. Cleaning is secondary.
Why haven't we heard of this before?
Why once per season? Teams use their gear every day, so there is no break in the schedule to have it properly serviced. The traditional service providers are not equipped to meet this timely demand for cleaning and disinfecting gear without taking the equipment off line. In all fairness, the need to have this done had not been as serious until recent years when Community Acquired MRSA started to take the young lives of some high school and college football players in addition to some high-profile infections and illnesses of NFL and NHL players.
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a relatively new strain of bacteria, spawned from the overuse of antibiotics. A host of companies have cropped up that can handle this problem. A team may have all its gear washed and disinfected without missing a day of practice.
Can't I just spray it with disinfectant?
Let's face it, we don't spray our clothing with disinfectants and deodorants and call it clean. Yet, we send our children out onto the field or rink wearing sports equipment for consecutive days without proper cleaning or even drying.MRSA bacteria found in Wash. fire station
UW study reveals firefighters, equipment bringing bacteria into stations, living areas
By FireRescue1 Staff
EVERETT, Wash. — A University of Washington study released Thursday found responders may be at a higher risk for carrying-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) than the average person.
Researchers conducted the first-ever environmental health study on MRSA in Northwest fire stations and on personnel to determine the extent of the contamination.
After running tests, MRSA was found all over the fire station, reported King 5 News.
UW Professor Marilyn Roberts, an expert researcher on MRSA, told King 5 she had found evidence of the bacteria on most fire station surfaces, and on the responders themselves.
"Firefighters and paramedics are at the crossroads between the public and hospital environments," said Roberts in the University's press release. "Their job includes administering first-response care to patients, many of whom are more likely to be MRSA carriers or have MRSA infections than the general population. This puts them at increased risk for MRSA infections."
The research team found more than 20 percent of fire and EMS responders who volunteered to be tested carried MRSA and an additional 10 percent carried Staphylococcus aureus in their noses.
Another recent study at Rhode Island Hospital found only about one percent of the general population carries MRSA in their noses.
The fire department suspects MRSA is transmitted into personnel living spaces from paperwork and electronics used to record information from out in the field.
Following the study, the Snohomish fire district became more stringent on what could be brought inside the fire station, washing clothes and equipment more frequently — and they added more hand sanitation stations; anything to keep MRSA at bay.
"We don't want to take this home to our families," said Firefighter-Medic Kevin Fetter. "We have to do this job for 20, 30 years."
The results of the study have prompted other fire districts to look into the MRSA levels responders are bringing into fire stations