Aseptic Meningitis Among Members of a High School Football Team

Infectious Diseases in Competitive Sports

“…In an out¬ break of furunculosis among high school athletes, a history of either mechanical trauma to the skin or direct contact with at least one person known to have a skin lesion were independent risk factors for infection.36 In addition, in this outbreak, transmission was sustained through the sequential occurrence of cases in mem¬ bers of the school's football team and, subsequently, the basketball team. Common-Source Spread Of the nine reports describing prob¬ lems that likely resulted from commonsource spread ofinfectious agents, eight involved enteroviruses (coxsackieviruses and echoviruses) ( Table I) 39-46 (R. G. Froehlke, MD, oral communication, July 1993). Outbreaks of enteroviral dis¬ ease, including aseptic meningitis and pleurodynia, occurred in members of football and soccer teams.…”

Common Sports Infectious Disease

“…Common-source infectious diseases are transmitted via exposure to pathogens on common shareable items, including water bottles, food, and beverages [20]. Notably, enteroviruses such as echovirus and coxsackievirus have been implicated in common source exposures and have been reported to lead to cases of aseptic meningitis and pleurodynia in football athletes [8,26,40]. In other related outbreaks, pathogens have been traced back to water containers.…”

Exercise and the Immune System – Focusing on the Effect of Exercise on Neutrophil Functions

“…In team sports or in other sports where participants are in close physical contact before, during or after the sporting event, both the infected individual and the fellow sportsmen may become infected. Some infections may appear in clusters in the sports setting, such as gastroenteritis, herpes simplex, meningitis, viral hepatitis, skin infections, tonsillo-pharyngitis (21,22). A large number of viruses and bacteria can give rise of myocarditis that can be aggravated by physical exertion (15).…”