MRSA Staph Infection

MRSA Staph Infection In The Locker Room -It was just a tiny red mark on Chris Bettineski's right calf--a bug bite, he thought, when he noticed it in January of last year, or maybe an ingrown hair. He had endured far nastier welts than that during his high school and college wrestling career, and even during his two seasons as an assistant coach at Pendleton (Ore.) High he had often come away with worse scrapes and scratches after getting down on the mat with the kids at practice. A pinprick on his calf? Hardly worth a second thought.

But a couple of days later at a Pendleton meet, he noticed that the mark had grown bigger and a bit painful, and by the time he went to bed that Saturday night, it was about the circumference of a baseball and starting to throb. Still, he waited until Monday morning to see a doctor, who told him he had an infection, prescribed an antibiotic and sent him home.

Twelve hours later Bettineski, 29, was in the emergency room at St. Anthony Hospital. The swelling had spread toward his knee, and he was feeling achy, feverish and nauseated, as if he had the flu. Another doctor, a different antibiotic, the same advice: Come back if you're not feeling better in a day or two.

The bacterium that was ravaging Bettineski's leg was methicillin-resistantstaphylococcus aureus -- MRSA for short -- an insidious, highly contagious bug that, true to its name, is resistant to most commonly used antibiotics. In giving Bettineski's wife, Jodi, the worst-case scenario, Adams candidly stated that what had begun as a seemingly harmless mark was now a fast-moving infection that might necessitate the amputation of all or part of her husband's leg. If it reached his stomach or other internal organs, the infection could kill him.

Until the beginning of this decade MRSA was confined almost exclusively to hospitals. But the last few years have seen cases rise among the general public, particularly in segments of society in which large numbers of people are in close proximity, such as prison populations, the military and athletic teams. MRSA can be a threat anytime athletes come in contact with each other and have even tiny scrapes that allow the bacteria to grow and an infection to take hold.

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