Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of invasive infections and skin and soft tissue infections in the United States. Athletes have higher risk of infection with S. aureus than the general population. Though carriage of S. aureus increases the risk of infection, most studies in athletes have not assessed carriage and have included mostly male contact sports participants. Thus, the natural history of carriage in different sports is poorly understood, and strategies to prevent infections in athletes are not clear. To better understand carriage of S. aureus and to identify its risk factors, we collected nasal and throat samples from all Vanderbilt University varsity athletes for two academic years. Staphylococcal carriage was highest during the summer. Contact sports athletes had higher risk of carrying S. aureus over time: they had higher carriage and they carried S. aureus for longer periods of time than athletes in noncontact sports. Also, athletes acquired S. aureus more quickly if they played contact sports. Athletes in contact sports, and particularly in football, were more likely to carry the current epidemic clone of MRSA (USA300) that is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. These findings indicate that contact sports participation, particularly football, increases athletes risk of carrying S. aureus. These findings also suggest that efforts to prevent transmission of S. aureus among athletes should be focused on contact sports teams after the summer break, when carriage was highest.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-03192013-100457 |
| Date | 11 April 2013 |
| Creators | Jimenez Truque, Natalia |
| Contributors | Benjamin R. Saville, Meira Epplein, Kathryn M. Edwards, C. Buddy Creech, Sandra Deming-Halverson |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03192013-100457/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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