This one is serious. Son's roomate aquired a MRSA infection. Roomate indicated some bumps on his leg, thought it was an ingrown hair, went to campus doc, was prescribed antibiotics immediately.
Roomie chose to come back to the dorm and sleep before filling is RX. Woke up middle of the night in extreme pain and swelling. Roomies took him to the hospital, and MRSA was again confirmed. He had to stay in hospital 48 hours. Meanwhile, son was freaking out (being that they shared a room) thinking he was going to get it. The entire dorm room (suite) had to be disinfected, even their dorm fridges. Son had to launder everything that was in their room and wipe down desk, computer, photo frames, everything! Turns out roomate never showered at fieldhouse, wanted to wait until getting back to the dorms. Rule #1 shower at field house, then if you want to shower again at dorm, do so, don't let the sweat and bacteria set on your skin (which may contain open pores or sores. A compromised immune system is all that these strong bacterias need to infiltrate (along with improper grooming).
The MRSA infection can be fatal if left untreated.
To top things off, roomate then had an allergic reaction to the meds he was given, which then set of another set of concerns with roomates, as usual the guys took care of the situation, got him back to the hospital and he is good now. I was proud of how they all worked together as baseball brothers to take care of their roomate, and they all gained some sense of maturity, how to handle serious situations and deal with them.

Iheartbb,

Thanks for reminding us of this problem.

Our younger son gashed his shin in the weight room - had it cleaned and bandaged by a trainer. A couple of days later, he complained about it hurting. I thought it was a bone bruise. He had been seeing a physical therapist for his shoulder rehab. When he showed it to her she told him to have him get him to a doctor ASAP. It took two different antibiotics and quite a long time to clear it. He still has a black spot and an indentation where the infection had taken hold. It could have been much worse. It is nothing to mess with.

Another thing to consider is having your player do his own laundry, or at least launder his uni himself, as often as possible. (I know, this flies against everything college age guys are about!)

Sometimes, teams don't use hot water to wash unis, or players hold on to their unis and wear them several times before putting them in to be washed.

The CDC has a lot of information about community acquired MRSA, but this is specifically about athletes:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_MRSA_AthletesFAQ.html#12



Mayo Clinic has this to say about Community acquired MRSA (non hospital acquired)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735/DSECTION=8

I know that this probably sounds like a "helicopter Mom" to some, but the risks are just too great to not be concerned.

It will never get well if you pick it

When dropping a class, follow up and make sure the withdrawal did go through.

When making a decision to transfer from JUCO to D1 two weeks before school starts, obtain a copy of transcript from previous school, in order to check on that dropped class.

Look at your transcript prior to meeting with coach upon arrival at new campus.

Be prepared to take a CLEP exam with 24 hrs. notice once you discover that:

1. The withdrawal did not get processed, resulting in an F.

2. Coaches don't like last minute surprises that mean you aren't eligible to enroll.

3. Just because you have just gotten all moved in isn't a guarantee that you aren't going to be heading back home (and back to JUCO) the next day.

4. The list of possible CLEP exams you can take to remedy the situation is going to be very short.

5. Passing a CLEP exam with no prep time is a long shot, but can, miraculously, be done.

My son was on a road trip with his Legion team a couple of years ago and got a bad sliding wound. They did not do their laundry while on the road (several unis) but wore unis more than once and he ended up with a bad infection. Tore his ACL and couldn't do surgery until that wound had totally healed. The scar from that sore is worse than his surgery scar. Also, push pins are not good to release the pressure on the wound.

quote:

Also, push pins are not good to release the pressure on the wound.

What, he couldn't find any leeches?

To play the game GUTS with meal $$$.