MRSA part 2

From: Cindy

If you haven’t read this excellent post by TheBigKlosowski, you’re missing out.
How to avoid deadly staph infections while training

I have some life experience to add to the MRSA article. I am a massage therapist at a martial arts school, so you can imagine what sort of ickiness I combat when I’m on the job.

Ask how often the mats/machines/etc are cleaned.

TIP 1

One way to stay clean without a shower is to place a hand towel doused with alcohol in a freezer bag before leaving home. Stick it in your gym bag (no worries of a bottle spilling in there!). Toss it in the wash with your uniform (which I highly recommend washing after each use!). If Lysol is more your thing and you can’t find any to borrow, ask the manager of your facility and joke how you “don’t want to take the gym germs home.” They’ll understand!

TIP 2

Another more proactive tip is to put up signs at your facility. I work at a martial arts school, and my “germ campaign” this summer included hygiene notes at the sink, at the hand sanitizer station, near the shoe shelf, and anywhere else I could think of.

MRSA is also common in schools, which is why it’s especially important to stay vigilant if your training facility allows children. Additionally, two family members of mine (a nurse and a corrections officer) BOTH contracted it on the job in 2007.

Further, the nastier big brother of MRSA is VRSA, which is resistant to Vancomycin (the drug used to treat MRSA).  YUCK!!!

Best of luck in your training!

–Cindy

EDIT: added 10/4/08 in light of:

1. 2008 - International Year of Sanitation
2. October 15, 2008 - Global Handwashing Day (lots more info here) 

TIP 3
Ask what your gym policy is: if they say “um” or they have to ask someone else, that’s a bad sign!

TIP 4
No tank tops, since sweat is more likely to get on equipment (or your partner).

TIP 5
Wipe down equipment, especially in dumbbells and “quick sequence” fitness equipment. 

TIP 6
DO NOT use a towel, water bottle, or mouthpiece you’ve dropped on the floor! I see people do this all the time.

List of nasty stuff you’ll be avoiding:

bacterial meningitis
candida (yeast infections) 
cryptosporidium (in pools, causes diarrhea) 
e. coli (found in human feces) 
flu virus 
giardia (rare, found in hot tubs) 
HPV (no lie, human papilloma virus) 
MRSA
onychomycosis (another fungus) 
pseudomonas (skin infection from hot tubs) 
strep bacteria 
tinea pedis (athlete’s foot fungus)
VRSA 

If you want gross pictures, check out www.gymsoap.com

Tags: alcohol, children, clean, facility, gross, hygiene, mats, MRSA, staphylococcus aureus bacteria, tips, VRSA

How to avoid deadly staph infections while training

Like many healthy people, you probably have some Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — usually simply called staph — on your skin or in your nose or throat. Most of the time, the bacteria cause no problems or relatively minor skin infections. But staph infections can turn deadly if the bacteria burrow deeper into your body, invading your bloodstream, urinary tract, lungs and heart.

There is a new threat of MRSA, an Antiobiotic resistant form of staph that has been lurking in gyms, dojos, and training facilities worldwide. MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, killed more people last year than the AIDS virus. Find out the symptoms and treatment of MRSA infection and how to protect yourself at the gym from this “super bug.”

How can you protect yourself?  BJJToolBox.com has some great tips on avoiding staph infections while training.  While the focus is on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it applies to all martial arts.

Here’s a few tips from BJJToolBox.com that I thought were particularly good.

If you have to wait to get home to take a shower, make sure and keep some alcohol cleaner handy for the ride home.

…

3. DON’T ROLL WITH OPEN SORES
Keep ALL wounds / infections, particularly those that continue to produce pus or to drain, covered with clean, dry bandages. Pus from infected wounds can contain staph bacteria (MRSA) to others. A couple of recent outbreaks among football players began when one team member had a boil, and the infection was spread to other team, members.

Read the whole article here.

Tags: BJJToolBox, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, martial arts, MRSA, resistant staphylococcus aureus, skin infections, staph bacteria, staph infections, staphylococcus aureus bacteria