The Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) outbreak hit headlines this fall when several cases were reported in the New England area. The most susceptible areas for this infection to occur are in gyms and athletic facilities.
At Fairfield, however, the Athletic Department has been more than proactive in trying to prevent any such outbreak among the student-athletes.
According to Director of Sports Medicine Mark Ayotte, Fairfield has never had a serious outbreak and is hoping to keep it that way.
“Where you get into problems is if you let an injury go,” Ayotte said of these infections.
“But still, it’s the equipment, lack of cleaning the equipment … that leads to these things,” he said.
Ayotte also said that Fairfield does not offer the types of varsity sports that MRSA most often occurs in, such as football and hockey.
In addition to keeping the equipment and facilities clean for student-athletes, the Athletic Department has now installed hand sanitizers next to every locker room door and has posted information sheets in the locker rooms.
Not only has the Athletic Department taken strides to prevent MRSA, but it has been working to inform student-athletes of the threat as well.
“There are posters and hand sanitizers all over the place, e-mails and handouts,” said lacrosse player Nick Lattimore ’08.
Lattimore said he attended a team meeting about MRSA where he was taught preventative measures such as not sharing towels or water bottles with other teammates.
Casey Frobey ’10, who plays women’s soccer, mentioned that her team received information about MRSA from its coach and other athletic personnel. Team members were also required to clean out their lockers and make sure that all of their equipment was clean to help prevent any kind of infection.
While Fairfield has taken steps in preventing a MRSA outbreak, a MAAC rival school, Iona College, reported a “small epidemic” of MRSA.
Iona had a total of nine athletes and one coach who were infected, leading to the hospitalization of one student-athlete. Iona declined a response to any questions.
Even though the athletes from Iona did not compete in competitions against Fairfield, Frobey mentioned that her team was still nervous playing Iona because of the MRSA outbreak.
Click for The Washington Post’s article on the incident
“A story got out that a girl on the team had staph but she didn’t,” Frobey said. “We were all freaking out when we were rubbing against her and her sweat was going on our arms, but apparently it was OK.”
However, Ayotte said that schools are not required to inform other competing teams of any type of infection that an athlete might have. He said that the school will not allow an athlete to participate unless the athlete is healthy, but other schools are not informed of these situations.
Even though Fairfield’s track record for infections is fairly clean, many student-athletes still worry about a MRSA outbreak.
“It’s definitely scary to know that some little cut can be life-ending,” said Lattimore. “I guess more so of a threat [to lacrosse] because we don’t really stay as clean because of our equipment, so we have to take extra measures to make sure that we clean out our cuts and everything like that.”
Robyn Decker ’09, who plays women’s soccer, said she felt threatened when her team could no longer use the hallway during strengthening workouts.
“I felt that we were threatened when we weren’t allowed to do abs on the floor anymore and not even allowed to sit on the carpet because you might get something; that’s kind of scary.”
Although the threat of MRSA still lingers around the news and in the Athletic Department, most student-athletes said that the situation was handled appropriately and effectively by the Athletic Department.
“It was on the news, so I feel it got a little ridiculous but they calmed us down a lot,” said Frobey. “Not only have they [the athletic staff] taken precautions to make sure that there is not an outbreak, but they have informed us enough so that us athletes can relax.”
The hand sanitizers, posters and clean showers are positive outcomes of the MRSA outbreak.
But Ayotte said it comes down to keeping clean.
“There is no threat; we just have to keep people clean and wash their hands,” he said.
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