Fight staph on your own -- and start at the gym

With one local high school athlete dead from complications of a drug-resistant drug-sensitive* staph infection and another being treated for the condition, perhaps it's time for a refresher course in prevention. The infection isn't going away, and its ability to devastate isn't losing shock value.

The disease, caused by a strain of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, often begins in a fairly inocuous manner, with a small pimple or sore on the skin. As noted in the current story, Staph infection kills SoCal high school wrestler, the latest victim's symptoms began with rash and flulike symptoms. And athletes who share equipment and personal items are particularly at risk.

The California Department of Public Health offers prevention advice specifically for athletes and for athletic departments in general, including what to do with those team members who have draining wounds. Much time is spent on exactly how to wash one's hands.

And here are recommendations from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to health clubs, gyms and spas. If you want to ask the friendly maintenance personnel whether they follow these guidelines, feel free. In fact, feel obligated. For instance, they should know how to clean those wood surfaces in the sauna. Two words: Diluted bleach.

And a note to patrons: Use a towel between your sweaty self and that gym equipment. Because the guy ahead of you might not have.

But skipping the locker room or gym doesn't mean you're safe. For the rest of the world, here are basic prevention steps from the CDC.

* Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

* Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.

* Avoid contact with other people's wounds or bandages. (You know, if you have to be told this...)

* Avoid sharing personal items such as towels and razors.

-- Tami Dennis

*(As for the change from "drug-resistant" to "drug-sensitive," Times staff writer Mary Engel reported in Friday's paper that the infection was caused by a less formidable form of the disease. Here's her story. Prevention rules still apply.)

Photo credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[DrStu]

Regrettably, with respect to hand sanitizer recommendations, the CA Dept of Public Health is doing what Hollywood likes to do--taking scripts from other sources without confirming validity or accuracy.

In this case, CA DOPH is looking at the front page of a 50 page document published in 1996 by the US Centers For Disease Control and intended exclusively for hospital workers. Peeling back the pages of this document will reveal that CDC actually cautions against the prolonged use of alcohol-based gels, and instead, makes reference to alternative alcohol-FREE products that may be considered safer and more appropriate.

Over the past 2-3 years, Alcohol-based hand sanitizers have been systematically banned by a wide assortment of facilities, including schools, extended care venues, correctional facilities, and even the United States Navy. Why?Amongst other reasons, alcohol-based products destroy protective skin cells, they are potentially toxic, they don't penetrate dirty hands, their effectiveness ends within seconds after applying--and they're flammable.

Instead, these groups are migrating mostly to benzalkonium chloride-based products. "BAC" has been widely-used in a variety of health care products for the past 40 years, and more recently, manufacturers have repurposed this organic compound into hand sanitizer products as the demand and awareness has increased substantially. This is the same active ingredient used in a variety of antiseptics (Bactine, BandAid brand, etc), and also within many other products, including spermicidal foams.

The more popular alcohol-free, rinse free hand sanitizer products include Soapopular, Hy5 and others...The former is the only hand sanitizer of any type sold by Wal-Mart.com and has become the #2 hand sanitizer on Amazon.com..
If California has a wild-fire problem, promoting the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers is an idea that could blow up in flames.

[scottbutcher]

There are many personal care and other products in the home that contain alcohol or flammable liquids ... perfumes, colognes, nail varnish remover, distilled beverages, paint thinners etc. I would worry far more about those than handcleaner, personally. People in general do not exercise proper safety precautions when storing or using these items. Yes, there are warnings on the labels of some substances but are there ANY labels about flammability on distilled beverages? Even when there are warnings, if information of this sort is to do any good, it has to be noticible, not hidden away somewhere. If you don't want to ruin the aesthetics of your label, then have a removable wrapper where it is loud and clear in additon to a discreet one one that bottle of cognac.