American Medical Society for Sports Medicine
For Immediate Release May 09, 2008

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS:  Overland Park, Kansas: Dr. Herwaldt speaks to the Rendezvous II Meeting participants about the Prevention and Treatment of MRSA infections in sports

Loreen A Herwaldt, MD presented her lecture entitled “Community-Associated MRSA and Sports” at the annual Rendezvous II meeting in Las Vegas, NV. Dr Herwaldt, a Professor and Hospital Epidemiologist at the University of Iowa, provided background information on the disease in addition to treatment, outbreak occurrences, and outbreak control techniques. 

Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) often causes skin and soft tissue infections in young healthy people, but it can occasionally cause invasive infections such as necrotizing pneumonia and hematogenous osteomyelitis. Dr Herwaldt reviewed the recent publications on outbreak risk factors which included sharing bars of soap; having cuts, turf burns, or abrasions; playing as a wide receiver or cornerback; and body shaving habits.

Recommendations for prevention originally published in MMWR 2003; 52(33) are still effective and consist of doing skin surveillance frequently, restricting players who have CA-MRSA infections, cleaning and covering wounds, cleaning equipment and the environment frequently, and discouraging players from sharing hygiene items such as towels, razors, or soap. When caring for athletes with skin and soft tissue infections, clinicians should culture the lesions and use the culture and susceptibility results to guide treatment.

Dr Herwaldt finished her talk by sharing preliminary results of a survey of AMSSM members and by reviewing the five C’s associated with CA-MRSA which were: Crowding, Contact (frequent skin to skin), Compromised skin, Contaminated items and surfaces, and Cleanliness (lack of).

Dr Herwaldt included the resources used for her talk from the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/ARESIST/ca_mrsa.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_MRSA_AthletesFAQ.html
the NCAA at http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/ed_outreach/health-safety/healthcare/sports_med_education/infectious_prevention.htm

Dr Herwaldt is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City, Iowa.

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) was organized in 1991 by physicians who recognized the need for an organization within the field of sports medicine that approached athletes, exercising individuals and teams comprehensively with consultative and continuous care of their orthopedic, medical, nutritional and psychosocial issues. Although sports medicine concepts are often thought of in conjunction with professional and elite athletes, these concepts apply to athletes of all levels including grade school, high school, college and recreational athletes. AMSSM is comprised of over 1000 Sports Medicine Physicians whose goal is to provide a link between the rapidly expanding core of knowledge related to sports medicine and its application to patients in a clinical setting.

NOTE: For more information, please contact the AMSSM, 11639 Earnshaw, Overland Park, KS 66210, (913) 327-1415.