The sports saga with MRSA continues. A recent article in the NYTimes about college sports described “To prevent teammates fromsharing towels to wipe their faces or arms on the sideline,trainers have sometimes employed a small army of interns who scoopup any used towel so it can quickly be placed in the laundry. JimThornton, the athletic trainer at Clarion University inPennsylvania, said his teams had begun using chemically treatedtowelettes that are about half the size of a standard towel and arediscarded after each use. The expense may be worthwhile. One studyof high school football players concluded that sharing a towelmakes the chance of a MRSA infection eight times more likely.â€https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/sports/the-never-ending-battle-against-sports-hidden-foe.html
They are talking about communityacquired MRSA, which is the same as subtypeUSA300. What genes made this MRSA able to be transmitted via towelsand why? Would you expect nonMRSA S. aureus to be equallytransmitted? Why or why not?
