NY Giants' Daniel Fells' MRSA Battle Highlights Infection Risk in Contact Sports

— -- A dire infection that has left an NFL player facing possible amputation has highlighted the dangers professional players can face from drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or staph infection.

New York Giants tight end Daniel Fells reportedly faces a possible foot amputation after suffering a methicillin-resistant staph infection that stemmed from an injury to his ankle during practice a week ago.

The player reportedly had an ankle injury and then received a cortisone shot to help him heal. The player then reported a week of foot and ankle pain before being taken to the hospital with a fever on Oct. 2, according to NFL.com. He's now on an IV antibiotic treatment and has undergone five surgeries to help him recover from the infection.

Experts say the story highlights how athletes, especially those in contact sports, can face dangerous MRSA infections.

Dr. Buddy Creech, pediatric infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has worked with professional teams on how to clean up after a MRSA outbreak and has studied how both contact and non-contact athletes can develop the bacteria.

Creech was the co-author of a study looking at how 377 college athletes were affected by MRSA in both contact and non-contact sports.

"Contact sports participants, even more than non-contact sport participants, [were] at a much higher risk for colonization for MRSA," Creech explained. "Theoretically those players are also higher risk for infection."

At least 30 percent of the contact sport players showed evidence of colonization by MRSA bacteria at some point, three times as high as what would be seen in the general population, Creech said.

But colonized with the bacteria does not mean a person is infected, Creech noted, saying it just indicates a person could be more likely to develop the infection.

The theory is that athletes in contact sports are far more likely to have abrasions or injuries where the bacteria can invade into the body, Creech said.

The bacteria that cause a MRSA infection is a common kind of bacteria that often does not lead to infection, but that an open wound can be an easy entry point for the bacteria, Creech said.

In the case of Fells, Creech said there is a possibility that the cortisone shot -- or corticosteroid -- could have affected his immune system near the ankle wound.

If a particularly virulent strain of MRSA or staph bacteria is present in a team, officials can clean the locker room and have players take decontaminating baths to stop that particular strain. However, Creech said it is nearly impossible to completely stop any strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria from being present.

"This is a normal germ that we are encountering," he noted.

The key to stopping transmissions is to clean highly contaminated items, such as a trainer's table or towels used by a person with a staph infection, Creech said, noting that it is particularly dangerous for people to share razors since they can nick the skin and spread infection.