WEARING *WHAT* WEDNESDAY: Kellen Winslow

I know, a little early, but this picture caught my eye on CNN...

And I thought, DAMN, check out those arms! And then I read the story...

The problem came to the forefront last week with Cleveland Browns player Kellen Winslow, who recently had his second staph infection. He is reportedly the sixth player to acquire staph among the Browns in five years.

Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts was revealed to have a staph infection, the Indianapolis Star reported Friday. University of North Carolina-Asheville fans also recently learned that Kenny George, the 7-foot-7 center on the basketball team, had a staph infection complication that led to part of his foot being amputated.

It's unclear how these high-profile athletes acquired their infections, but locker rooms have been found to habor staph bacteria in previous outbreaks. The topic is generating buzz throughout the sports world as more players' staph cases are revealed. Hospitals have long been known to be hot spots for transmitting staph, but recently cases have cropped up in other community settings. Regardless of where these players got their infections, the close quarters of a locker room raise questions about overall risks.

About 30 percent of people carry staph in their noses without exhibiting symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

Experts say Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a form of staph resistant to common antibiotics, has become a more prevalent problem in settings such as contact sports that involve skin-to-skin touching.

Most MRSA infections acquired in community settings present themselves as sores or boils and often appear red, swollen, painful or with drainage such as pus, the CDC says. Infections often occur in cuts and abrasions but also on body parts covered in hair, such as the back of the neck, armpit or groin.

They have a link on the page to the CDC's Fact Sheet on MRSA and athletes (although I think it's funny and sad that they don't actually distinguish between MRSA and staph, but you know...). What is also interesting as, earlier this year, the CDC came close (but not quite) to labeling MRSA as an STI that has started to be found in men who have sex with men:

The strains of MRSA described in the recent Annals of Internal Medicine have mostly been identified in certain groups of men who have sex with men (MSM), but have also been found in some persons who are not MSM. It is important to note that the groups of MSM in which these isolates have been described are not representative of all MSM, so conclusions can not be drawn about the prevalence of these strains among all MSM. The groups studied in this report may share other characteristics or behaviors that facilitate spread of MRSA, such as frequent skin-to-skin contact.

MRSA is typically transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, which occurs during a variety of activities, including sex. There is no evidence at this time to suggest that it MRSA is a sexually-transmitted infection in the classical sense.

Anyways, I am not making any implications about what's his face... right, Kellen Winslow. I just thought people who read my blog might be interested to know more about MRSA.

They might also be interested in his amazing body...

And, of course, the piece de resistance...
Unlike what my family will tell you...

...sometimes, I do like football.

PS There is also the strange and interesting case of the Turkish wrestlers who appeared to have transmitted and contracted Hepatitis B through sweat/skin-to-skin contact. So STDs in athletics are neither new nor unusual...