Do Staph Infections Threaten NFL Players?
The NFL is all about the players. League teams spend huge amounts of money on those players and then earn even more through advertising, seat sales, and of course television connections.
Given this extremely successful strategy, the protection of the players is of paramount importance. This is particularly true for star players. If you don’t believe me, look at all the rules surrounding quarterback safety. Soon, a defensive player will be fined for even looking at the quarterback!
Professional footballers live in a world separate from ours. They can spend all their money and return to Earth after their career is over, but all is well while they play. That being said, NFL players are now threatened by a health issue that you and I are facing.
Staph infections have been with us for a long time. Staph is a bacteria that surrounds us. It does nothing to us unless it enters our bodies. Once it does, it causes a massive infection and can even lead to death. You are probably surprised to learn that staph infections kill more than 19,000 people a year. That is more than AIDS.
The problem with treating staph infections has to do with how we treat everything. The failsafe move of most doctors is to prescribe antibiotics. However, after a while, the bacteria begin to develop resistance to antibiotics. This is exactly what has happened with staph and one version, known as MRSA, is now a serious problem and NFL players are not immune.
In 2003, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, better known as the CDC, noticed a staph outbreak with the St. Louis Rams. Nine players were infected after burning the grass. The infected areas developed into large abscesses, but none of the players were hospitalized.
As of 2005, no fewer than six Cleveland Browns players have contracted staph infections. The LeCharles Bentley center nearly died from his and had to retire. Kellen Winslow, Jr., has had it twice and was hospitalized for a few days this season because of it. After undergoing surgery in January 2008, catcher Joe Jurevicius suffered an infection and has yet to return to play a single down. The list goes on.
Now the NFL is forced to confront the problem. Why? Arguably the two biggest stars have experienced it this year. One recovered, but the other has major issues that could get really nasty. Yes, I am talking about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Peyton Manning is a quarterback known for consistently playing at a high level. 2008, however, has not been a good year for him. The reason is simple. He was unable to practice for much of the offseason and training camp. The reason? A staph infection that infected his pouch sac. It is not clear what exactly happened, but it appears that at least two surgeries were needed to solve the problem.
Tom Brady of the New England Patriots has not been so lucky. Not only did he burst his knee in the first game of the season, but he’s experiencing a very bad staph infection. After your initial surgery, you have needed two additional surgeries to try to clean your knee. At the time of writing, he is still in treatment for the infection and there is concern that the initial surgical effort may fail.
The media loves to talk about deadly and exotic diseases. Staph is not exotic, but it is definitely deadly. It is also an equal opportunity health issue, as we can see from NFL players who have problems. Perhaps this will result in the necessary media attention to stimulate research to find a solution for both professional gamers and ordinary people.