One of the issues facing athletic trainers from a health and safety standpoint is the emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus infection (MRSA). The National Athletic Trainers’ Association is working to educate the public on the potential risks of the virus.

In March, the NATA issued a press release stating that most serious staph infections were treated with an antibiotic related to penicillin. In recent years, treatment of those infections has become more difficult because staph bacteria have become resistant to various antibiotics.

It isn’t just a training room issue, either. The influx of MRSA infections is being noted throughout the medical field. According to the Centers for Disease Control, staph bacteria are carried on the skin or in the nose of 25 to 35 percent of healthy people. One percent of the population is "colonized" with MRSA.

The infections can develop from person-to-person contact, shared towels, soaps, improperly cleaned whirlpools and sports equipment.

Recently, two members of the Toronto Blue Jays were hospitalized due to infections, and the clubhouse had to be disinfected.

"It is more of an issue in an athletics setting," said Ron Courson, the director of sports medicine at the University of Georgia. "From high school to intercollegiate to professional athletics, everyone is seeing this now. Five years ago, it wasn’t on the radar. Athletic trainers and team physicians are aware of this and are trying to take steps at their institutions to minimize the impact the best they can. We’ve got to be concerned about infectious disease."

Courson said some precautions that can be taken include keeping hands clean by washing them thoroughly with soap and warm water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer routinely; encouraging immediate showering after activity; properly washing athletics gear and towels after each use; maintaining clean facilities and equipment; establishing health-care personnel to seek bacterial cultures to establish a diagnosis; and caring for and covering skin lesions appropriately before participating in athletics.

"We talk to student-athletes about proper hygiene and how to recognize symptoms," Courson said. "Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said more than 200 years ago that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That adage is important today in sports medicine."