The NFL is all about the players. The teams in the league spend huge amounts of money on those players and then makes back even more through advertising, seat sales and, of course, television contacts.

Given this extremely successful strategy, the protection of players is vitally important. This is particularly true for the star players. If you do not believe me, just look at all the rules surrounding the safety of a quarterback. Soon, a defensive player will be fined for even looking at the quarterback!

Professional football players live in a world separate from our own. They may blow all their money and come crashing back to Earth after their career is over, but it is all good while they are playing. That being said, NFL players are now under threat from a health problem you and I face.

Staph infections have been with us for a long time. Staph is a bacteria that is all around us. It does nothing to us unless it gets into our bodies. Once it does, it causes a massive infection and can even lead to death. You will probably be surprised to learn that staph infections kill over 19,000 people a year. That is more than AIDS.

The problem with treating staph infections has to do with how we treat everything. The fail safe move of most physicians is to prescribe antibiotics. After a while, however, bacteria start to develop resistances to the antibiotics. This is exactly what has happened with staph and one version, known as MRSA, is now a serious problem and NFL players are not immune.

In 2003, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, better known as the CDC, noted a staph breakout with the St. Louis Rams. Nine players were infected after getting turf burns. The infected areas turned into large abscesses, but none of the players were hospitalized.

Starting in 2005, no less than six Cleveland Browns players contracted staph infections. Center LeCharles Bentley almost died from his and had to retire. Kellen Winslow, Jr., has had it twice and was hospitalized for a few days this season because of it. After having surgery in January 2008, receiver Joe Jurevicius suffered an infection and has still not returned to play a single down. The list goes on.

Now the NFL is being forced to face up to the problem. Why? Arguably the two biggest stars have experienced it this year. One recovered, but the other is having major problems that could get really ugly. Yes, I am talking about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

Peyton Manning is a quarterback known for consistently playing at a high level. 2008, however, has not been a good year for him. The reason is simple. He was unable to practice for much of the offseason and training camp period. The reason? A staph infection that infected his bursa sac. Exactly what happened is a bit unclear, but it appears at least two surgeries were needed to wrap up the problem.

Tom Brady of the New England Patriots hasn't been nearly as lucky. Not only does he blow out his knee in the first game of the season, but he is experiencing a very tough staph infection. After his initial surgery, he has need two additional surgeries to try to clean out the knee. As of the writing of this article, he is still undergoing treatment for the infection and there is concern that the initial surgical effort may fail.

The media loves to talk about exotic, deadly diseases. Staph is not exotic, but it is definitely deadly. It is also an equal opportunity health problem as we can see from the NFL players having problem. Perhaps this will result in the necessary attention from the media to spur on research to find a solution for professional players and regular people alike.
About the Author

John Grimes is with AllTerrainCo.com. If you are worried about the threat of a staph infection, read the lab reports on how Hand Sanz from All Terrain kills the MRSA staph bacteria in under 15 seconds.