Sweat may be another way to pass on hepatitis B infection during contact sports, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Hepatitis B virus attacks the liver and can cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer, liver failure, and death.
The research team analyzed blood and sweat samples from 70 male Olympic wrestlers for evidence of hepatitis B infection (HBV). The wrestlers, who were all aged between 18 and 30, were all asked about injuries, as bloodborne infection is a common route of transmission. Over a third said they had had bleeding or weeping wounds during training and competition. And almost half said that they had had an episode of bleeding during other activities. None of the wrestlers had active HBV infection, as evidenced by a lack of antibodies to the virus; nevertheless, the virus itself was found in the blood of nine (13 percent), suggesting that they had hidden or occult infection, says the author. This is perfectly plausible, given that intense training temporarily suppresses a normal immune response, she says.
Eight (11 percent) also had particles of the virus present in their sweat, and levels of the virus found in the blood closely matched those found in the sweat. The findings prompt the author to suggest that sweat, like open wounds and mucous membranes, could be another way of transmitting the infection.
Some sporting bodies have ruled that HIV testing should be mandatory for all contact sport competitors, but no such recommendations have been made for HBV, says the author. Yet HBV is far more transmissible, because much higher levels of the virus are found in the blood and it is not as fragile as HIV, she says, calling for HBV testing and vaccination for all wrestlers at the start of their career.
"The NFL and other professional sports organizations should be using the most effective tool to protect their players from staph infections -- MRSA screening," says Betsy McCaughey, PhD, chairman of the not-for-profit Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID), whose advisory board includes NFL team physicians.Today, RID is releasing a new 12-step brochure that explains how screening and other precautions can ...
Rugby players may get more than just the ball out of a scrum – herpes virus can cause a skin disease called "scrumpox" and it spreads through physical contact. Researchers have studied the spread of the disease among sumo wrestlers in Japan and have discovered that a new strain of the virus could be even more pathogenic, according to an ...
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly referred to as MRSA, is a type of staph that causes infections resistant to a class of common antibiotics that includes methicillin, penicillin, amoxicillin and oxacillin. While MRSA infections were traditionally associated with extended hospital stays, they are now becoming more common in everyday life. In fact, this newer form of MRSA known as community-associated MRSA ...
With beach-season looming, the fitness bug is motivating Americans to fill area gyms in droves, all hoping to buff up before the warm-weather season of fun gets into full swing.People who workout at gyms should know that the effort to get the perfect physique comes with the heightened risk of contracting community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the potentially deadly superbug known ...
Chattem, Inc. announced Feb. 8, 2008, that it is conducting a nationwide recall of some Icy Hot Heat Therapy products, because it has received consumer reports of skin irritation, first-, second- and third-degree burns resulting from consumer use or possible misuse of these products. All lots and all sizes of the following Icy Hot Heat Therapy products have been recalled: Icy ...
Bacteria and viruses are the microscopic organisms – otherwise known as germs -- that are responsible for causing and transmitting illness and disease. These microbes are so small, that according to the American Society for Microbiology, if the smallest of all microbes was the size of a baseball, an average bacterium would then be the size of the pitcher's mound, and just one of the millions of cells that make up your body would be the size of the ballpark!
