Welcome to Cedar Valley Athlete Magazine’s
Wellness and Fitness area, exploring
wellness that integrates medical and
complementary approaches of enhancing
health and performance.
In this issue, we’ll jump right in and
tackle something that made national and
Cedar Valley news this fall: Methicillin-
Resistant Staphyloccocus Aureus - MRSA (pronounced
mer-sa), a type of simple Staphylococcus aureus (SA).
MRSA is a “super-bug” that has become resistant to
penicillin-type antibiotics, especially Methicillin.
Most cases of MRSA infections are traced to
health-care facilities, but a smaller population contracts
it from other sources in the community. About 30% of
the general population carries simple SA with no symptoms;
people who do suffer from it usually have had an
existing illness or wound. The strain of MRSA that is
community acquired, CA MRSA, can be more infectious
and often spreads in people who are usually in
good health (http://tahilla.typepad.com/mrsawatch/mrsa_and_sport/index.html).
CA MRSA mainly causes skin infections that can
invade the body and be life-threatening. It is transmitted
through the sharing of towels, combs, razors, washcloths
or soaps; and in close physical contact, especially
through open scrapes or cuts, which are common in
athletic competition, gyms and locker rooms.
The recent MRSA outbreak among the NU High
School football team that resulted in 21 confirmed or
diagnosed cases aroused the attention of the Iowa Department
of Health enough to request that every case
be reported in the Black Hawk County area for a onemonth
period, September 7th to October 5th. There
were 72 more cases confirmed or diagnosed and recorded
during that month and there was no precedent
for comparison.
Bruce Meisinger, Disease Surveillance Division
Manager of the Black Hawk County Health Department,
emphasized, “The NU High MRSA outbreak
did not cause the broader incidence of MRSA in the
community. The two are independent of each other,
other than the fact that it’s probably the pervasiveness
or prevalence of MRSA in the community that hit the
NU High School particularly hard.”
Meisinger said that his division would provide to
the schools in the next few weeks, a list of guidelines for
lessening the chance of fostering an environment that
encourages the spread of MRSA. Some of the ways of
managing the athletic “terrain” include: keeping uniforms,
towels and equipment clean and disinfected after
each use; repairing any torn padded benches; doublewrapping
all open sores; keeping hands sanitized and
maintaining a close watch on sores that fester with pus.
He encourages schools to implement strategies before
the indoor sport season, when wounds are less apt to
stay double-wrapped.
Another concern regarding the terrain of a locker
room and the necessary disinfecting is the continual
use of chemical disinfectants in a closed, steamy environment.
Chemical disinfectants contain hazardous
ingredients such as Cresol and Phenol, both of which
can be corrosive to skin, can cause central nervous
system damage in repeated low concentrations and are
suspected carcinogens (http://www.osha.gov/dts/sltc/methods/organic/org032/ org032.html). One option to
reduce germs and chemicals would be to explore safer
antibacterial alternatives from nature, which adapt to
the strains resistant to synthetic antibiotics. For instance,
an essential oil from the Melaleuca Alternafolia
tree (tea tree oil) is lab-proven to kill S. aureus, E. coli
and other bacterial strains with no re-growth (Vancouver,
WA; Essential Oils Data Search, Inc., 1985).
In 2006, one U.S. company developed the first botanical
disinfectant approved by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, using the oil of the herb thyme. It
is non-toxic and safe and proven to kill over 99.99%
of bacteria, specifically staph, salmonella, Athlete’s
foot fungus, the AIDS virus and a few more germs.
Another terrain of influence is our human body.
In her book, The Terrain is Everything – Contextual
Factors That Influence Health (Clearwater, FL; Power of
One Publishing, 2000), author Susan Stockton writes,
“The factors influencing our health are numerous.
Some are obvious; some are subtle. All stem from the
‘context’ in which we live our lives and which dictates
the condition of the terrain of our bodies.” She declares
that it is a limited oversimplification to view microbes
as the [only] cause for disease and sees a greater awakening
to Louis Pasteur’s deathbed realization, “The microbe
is nothing. The terrain is everything.”
A healthy body is simply less of a host to disease.
Don Colbert, M.D., in his book, The Seven Pillars of
Health – The Natural Way to Better Health for Life (Lake
Mary, FL; Siloam, 2007), details how hydration, sleep
and rest, nutritious food, exercise, detoxification, appropriate
nutritional supplementation and coping with
stress can help structure healthy lifestyle habits and a
more resistant body. If each of us takes some responsibility
for improving our “terrain” and physical wellness,
we will not only benefit personally, but also help the
increasing burden carried by medical professionals in
the management of critical and chronic diseases.
Thomas Edison once said, “The doctor of the future
will give no medicine, but will interest his patients
in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause
and prevention of disease.”
The future is now. We all play a part of it.
Jean Vaux, of Vaux Communication & Resources, is a wellness
writer, health coach and publications specialist who
helps direct people toward healthier lifestyles and resources.
She may be contacted at: jean@cedarvalleyathlete
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