Turf linked to Fatal MRSA Infection

There is increasing evidence that turf burns are more likely to lead to methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infections. MSRA is a drug resistant disease which can be rapidly fatal. A high school student in Texas died from turf burns in December. The article discusses this. It also notes that 18% of Texas fields are artificial turf, and its rate of MSRA infections is 16 times the national average.

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The New York State Department of Health, in an advisory to schools, noted that artificial turf is a risk factor for MSRA because of the type of abrasions if causes.

http://www.wswheboces.org/health_advisory.pdf

The New England Journal of Medicine had an article on this issue in 2005.

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=8022

Rearch concluded that the MRSA infections among the St. Louis Rams in 2003 were likely spread among players on as well as off the field through rough play, shared towels, whirlpools, and weights.

Researchers blamed "turf burns" or areas of skin rendered raw by a hard fall on artificial turf as both the source and means of spreading the bacteria. (The Rams previously played on an older-model AstroTurf field, which did not have a rubber/sand infill system.)

"These abrasions were usually left uncovered, and when combined with frequent skin-to-skin contact throughout the football season, probably constituted both the source and the vehicle for transmission," wrote researcher Sophia V. Kazakova, MD, MPH, PhD, of the CDC, and colleagues in the Feb. 3 issue.

The report went on to say that "all of the infections occurred at the site of a turf burn and rapidly progressed to large abscesses 5 to 7 centimeters in diameter that required surgery to drain."