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Outbreak of mat herpes causes concern for numerous District 9 schools |
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Tuesday, 29 January 2008 |
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 A recent outbreak of herpes gladitorium has been encountered among District 9 wrestling teams during January. By Greg Reedy
A recent outbreak of herpes gladitorium, also known as “mat herpes,” broke out during the early part of January and caused concern and in some cases, quarantine and postponement of matches, during the last few weeks.
Herpes gladitorium is a skin infection which is caused by the herpes simplex virus and can happen to wrestlers. A symptom is seeing a rash which can appears on the face, neck, shoulders and arms. It is usually a cluster of blisters which can be painful but is not always so. An infected wrestlers can pass it on through skin contact.
The outbreak can be traced back to the Coudersport Duals which were held on Jan. 5. A total of 10 teams were at that event. Wyalusing, Philipsburg, Clarion, Johnsonburg, Bradford, Cameron County, Mansfield, Coudersport, Sheffield and Oswayo Valley. A day later, schools found out a member of the Philipsburg team came down with mat herpes.
Teams around the area at the event were put into quarantine for 8-10 days. During this original quarantine, a member of the Rams’ wrestling team was diagnosed to have the virus.
Johnsonburg superintendent Walter Fitch said the monitoring was daily for the wrestlers.
“All wrestlers were monitored for eight days,” Fitch said. “During that time, we learned one of our wrestlers had it. We had another quarantine of eight days.”
The Rams subsequently just had one official practice in 21 days and returned to action on Thursday, Jan. 24 at Ridgway. The wrestlers were cleared that morning.
“Our school physician gave both the varsity and junior high teams a clean bill of health,” Fitch said.
The recent outbreak has made schools even more cautious, even though they did not have any members come down with the virus. Ridgway has taken even more precautions to make sure the wrestlers remain safe and healthy. Ridgway High School principal Heather McMahon-Vargas said wrestling mats are being cleaned often.
“We have been double-cleaning the mats,” she said. “Our athletic trainers have been checking them out as well before the matches. The showers are being checked.”
Before Ridgway’s match with Johnsonburg, McMahon-Vargas said there was constant dialogue among the schools to make sure everything would be safe.
“We talked with their coach to make sure all of the paperwork had been completed,” she said.
McMahon-Vargas said the Ridgway wrestlers also have taken the matter seriously and have been cooperative during the situation.
“Our kids understand it and have been great in following good hygiene,” McMahon-Vargas said. “The parents are also updated with the situation.”
Both schools said they have not heard of any new cases from their own schools or from other district schools.
“From all of our checks, we’ve never been exposed and haven’t been around teams that were exposed,” McMahon-Vargas said. “The schools have been very responsible around us. Johnsonburg was extremely responsible and kept us updated.”
Fitch said the Rams have had no additional problems and did reach out to other schools that were dealing with similar situations.
Johnsonburg wrestled Brockway on Jan. 25 and will wrestle three matches this week, including a home match against Cranberry tonight.
Both schools say wrestlers will continue to monitored on a daily basis to make sure another outbreak does not occur.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 January 2008 )
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