Resistant Bacteria, Football Players and Gay Men
January 28, 2008, 6:38 am
Recent media reports about a new strain of resistant bacteria among men in
San Francisco angered national gay rights groups concerned that the reports
would create hysteria and a backlash against gay men. The university
researchers who first announced the problem even issued an apology, saying
their press release about the original study contained some information that
could be interpreted as misleading.
Football players are at risk for infections from drug-resistant bacteria.
(Credit: Julie Jacobson/Associated Press)
Now, the online magazine Salon.com has weighed in on the controversy. In a
humorous essay, the magazine makes a serious point its not just gay men who
are at risk for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a
potentially fatal bacterial infection that killed two schoolchildren last fall.
The article starts by quoting a 2005 study in The New England Journal of
Medicine. According to the medical journal, MRSA affects men who had frequent
contact with others and often did not shower before using communal
whirlpools. The article blames factors such as compromised skin and close
skin-to-skin contact.'
But then Salon delivers the punchline.
When it comes to spreading the bacteria, it is not homosexuals we have to
worry about
.The medical researchers were not studying gays, they were studying
the St. Louis Rams. That is correct: football players; in particular,
linebackers.
The article goes on to quote the New England Journal report.
In our investigation, infection occurred only among linemen and
linebackers, and not among those in backfield positions, probably because of
the frequent contact among linemen during practice and games
.All MRSA skin
abscesses developed at sites of turf burns.
The magazine points out that all football people are not that clean.' The
New England Journal researchers observed a lack of regular access to hand
hygiene for trainers who provided wound care; skipping of showers by players
before the use of communal whirlpools; and sharing of towels all factors that
might facilitate the transmission of infection in this setting.
While it is true that clusters of MRSA have been identified among men who
have sex with men, it has also been found in areas where people share close
quarters, such as military barracks and prisons. Athletes also are at risk. In
1998, The Archives of Internal Medicine published a report on MRSA among high
school wrestlers. Last fall, The Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine published
a report calling MRSA the latest sports epidemic. According to that report:
Clusters of cases in various athletic teams, particularly contact sports,
have been reported since 1993 in the United States and more recently in Canada.
Community-associated MRSA infections are not limited to North America, and all
athletes are considered high risk. Skin-to-skin contact appears to be the
primary mode of transmission.
This doesnt mean athletes should panic about MRSA; nor should gay men or
anybody else for that matter. The bottom line is that everyone needs to pay
attention to hygiene, wash hands often, limit the sharing of personal items and
seek medical attention when a blemish or pimple seems to get worse quickly.
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