By Jeff Mulhollem
When Andrew McNitt and colleagues were conducting a study of the survivability of bacteria that cause staph infections on synthetic and natural turf football fields in 2008-09, no one had heard of COVID-19, of course. So, the question of whether the novel coronavirus that triggered the global pandemic could persist on playing surfaces and infect players was unimaginable.
The research was important, and still is, because MRSA — methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus — isolates have become more prevalent among athletes. The objective of the study was to examine the survival of bacteria that cause staph infections on synthetic turf systems and natural turfgrass under varying environmental conditions and to evaluate the effectiveness of various control agents applied to the synthetic turf. Click here for the full article.