In honor of one of the most lucrative American holidays happening this very weekend, I thought I’d explore sports and infectious diseases. Specifically, contact sports and skin infections! Since starting this blog, I’ve gathered that readers just love reading about transmissible skin infections, so what could be better than watching the Super Bowl and knowing just exactly what kind of diseases could possibly be smeared between the players of the Patriots and Giants?
There is a glut of infectious diseases that one can acquire from dabbling in combat or contact sports such as American or Aussie-style football, rugby, wrestling, and sumo. In fact, skin infections are the most common injury associated with all sports (1). All that body bashing and face-to-face smearing in contact sports does wonders for spreading skin or cutaneous infections. A number of these ailments are common to us non-athletic mortals – athlete’s foot, jock rash and ringworm (or tinea corporis). Two diseases in particular, with the marvelous potential to initiate larger epidemics within and beyond the locker room, form the focus of this article
A 3d model of the herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). Click for source.
Herpes gladiatorum is a wonderfully evocative name used to describe an athlete’s infection with herpes simplex virus 1 (HVS-1), a terribly contagious virus that many have the misfortune of being acquainted with; it’s estimated that 65% of people will become infected with the virus by the time they reach their 40s (2). Symptoms can include painful, blistery cold sores on the face and neck, along with a sore throat, infected lymph nodes and malaise.
