Texans find out skin infection is a stubborn opponent

October 31, 2003

Texans find out skin infection is a stubborn opponent
By Leigh Hopper, Houston Chronicle

The Houston Texans are using special towels, antibacterial ointment and ramped-up cleaning procedures to tamp down an outbreak of skin infections that has plagued the team since July.

Five players have developed lab-confirmed infections with MRSA -- the latest case surfacing two weeks ago -- requiring intravenous antibiotics. In a mysterious surge of cases, MRSA is afflicting athletes at all levels nationwide. Other Texans players have developed similar infections suspected, though not confirmed, to be the hard-to-beat bacterium.

"The cases have arisen in an ingrown hair, a bump on the arm, a pimple," said Houston Texans athletic trainer Kevin Bastin. "The next thing you know, it's the size of a dime, the size of a quarter. Players would come up to us and say, `Hey, what is this?' "

The Texans brought in an infectious disease specialist to inspect team facilities. Bastin said the doctor told them, "You can keep the place as clean as possible but if someone is a carrier ... and if the person puts his hand on a counter, it's there."

To fight the stubborn bug, the team spent $6,000 buying $50 tubes of Bactroban to distribute to players and staff. Twice a day, for five days, everyone used Q-Tips to swab their noses with the antibacterial ointment. The idea, Bastin said, was to eliminate MRSA harmlessly colonizing unsuspecting nostrils.

The team is supplying special, numbered towels for the weight room, so no one mistakenly uses a towel that's not his own, Bastin said. Equipment managers are taking extra care to wipe out helmets.

Bastin said the team has always practiced good hygiene but has been told "to take it up another notch." Players are urged to wash their hands frequently and to let a trainer or team doctor examine any wounds or unusual-looking spots on the skin.