Dust-covered practice mats may seem like a trivial gripe for this burly brood of men, but to the Stony Brook wrestling team, clean surfaces are of the utmost importance. Deadly bacterial skin infections like Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA, can be prevented by adhering to rigorous sanitation regiments.

“If you’re a wrestler, your coach tells you about it day-one of middle school practice,” said Aaron Ferri, the current president of the Stony Brook wrestling club.

During the day, Stony Brook’s Athletic Facilities Department does not adhere to stringent cleaning regime of practice mats. Culpability is placed on the patrons who use mats and all other equipment open to matriculated students and paying members. Signs are posted throughout recreational areas instructing the public to clean after themselves and avoid wearing outside shoes on the mats.

Wipes, sprays, or paper towels for public use remain absent.

“The mats are cleaned every night between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. by our custodial staff, American Maintenance,” said Todd Phelps, associate director of Athletics Facilities.

Outside of evening hours, custodians remain on call between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m.

“Studies have shown that these bacteria can live on inanimate surfaces for months,” said Francina Singh, infection control director of the Stony Brook Medical Center. “Keyboards, door knobs, hand railings – these are all surfaces on which MRSA can be found. MRSA is usually transmitted by direct skin contact or through the use of shared items like towels, razors and bandages.

MRSA is the same highly contagious infection that almost killed Nick Mauriello, a 16-year-old wrestler from Hauppauge High School diagnosed with the infection at Stony Brook University Medical Center just last month. The organisms nearly laid waste to Mauriello’s body, forcing doctors to place him in a medically induced coma to quell erratic palpitations and cool his raging fevers.

Mauriello survived the ordeal, but stands testament to the dangers of MRSA, no matter how young or physically-fit the victim.

In 1944, the bacteria exhibited signs of mutation. More and more cases were reported of penicillin resistance in Staphylococcus Aureus.  From the U.S. in 1947, to Australia and Canada in the early 50s, a worldwide trend of resistance began to emerge.

To combat these new strains of bacteria, scientists developed drugs like methicillin, vancomycin and amoxicillin, semi-synthetic forms of penicillin, which turned out to be highly efficient alternative medications.  These bacteria are referred to as Methicillin Susceptible Staphylococcus Aureus or MSSA.

Unfortunately, the fix did not last long.

Between 1959 and the 1980s, the bacteria continued to mutate.  Soon, vancomycin, methicillin and other commonly used synthetic penicillins became useless against MRSA.

The use of antibiotics in the feed of livestock and post-mortem meat therapies only further compounds the problem. Overexposure of staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics has been proven to hasten mutations.

“What happens is that there are changes in the proteins of the bacteria which are called the target sites to which the antibiotics act,” said Roy Steigbigel.  “As those proteins changed, the organism became MRSA.”

Steigbigel is the director of the HIV Treatment Development Center at the Stony Brook Medical Center and has studied infectious disease for over 30 years.

The most frightening aspect of MRSA is that the bacteria are extremely common. But strangely enough, the rate of transmission is actually quite low among healthy individuals, athletes and even wrestlers like Aaron Ferri.  Colonization is far more common and can be defined as a species of bacteria populating an area of skin.

“In the general population it is documented that 10 percent of individuals in the community are colonized with MRSA,” Singh said.

The individual will test negative for the infection and may never experience symptoms of clinical infection.

A patient is considered clinically infected when invading pathogens have reached a specific count in a patient’s bloodstream, a number that varies per infection. Symptoms of those diagnosed with MRSA will at first resemble other ailments like influenza.

Fevers and chills are experienced in the early stages of infection, but soon after, itchy pustules will appear where MRSA settles inside of the body.  The skin around these pustules appears inflamed and flaky, painful to the touch.

“The problem with MRSA,” said Steigbigel “is that we have fewer antibiotics to treat it with. The public misconception is that MRSA is more virulent, or causes more disease than MSSA.”

Either infection will cause the same symptoms. The only difference is how doctors go about treating their patients.

“It’s hard getting the mats cleaned, because we don’t own the mats,” Ferri said. “We share them with everyone else.  It’s hard to make sure that everyone’s keeping them clean and people aren’t wearing outside shoes on them.”

Undergraduate student Robert Rahm uses the mats everyday, but does not wear shoes while working out.

“I don’t see this room getting very dirty,” he said. “It’s usually pretty empty.”

According to Ferri, Pritchard administrators ought to remedy the problem.  Pritchard administrators point the finger at custodians. With fingers pointed in all directions, the path to resolution seems unclear and the health risk to the Stony Brook wrestlers, perpetuated.

Contact sports like wrestling, football or lacrosse carry higher rates of skin infection among athletes due to prevalent bruising and scratches.  It is through weakened skin that MRSA finds its easiest entry point.

“The best practice is to adhere to other clean practices,” Singh said. “Do not share towels, do not share soaps and wash your hands. It’s critical.”