Routine trips to the gym for exercise can help boost your health and fitness, but you might leave the facility with a nasty infection by not guarding against germs.

Infectious disease experts warn that from barbells to cardio machines, more gyms are hotbeds for the much-dreaded antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA infection, as sweaty people share equipment, exercise mats and locker rooms.

Dr. R. Doug Hardy, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, says MRSA, a staph infection, is transmitted when skin contacts contaminated surfaces.

MRSA is difficult to treat because it can attack bones and blood, thus becoming a potentially deadly disease. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that MRSA causes 90,000 serious infections a year and 17,000 deaths.

MRSA popping up in community

Although 80 percent of the MRSA infections occur in hospitals, federal health officials say they've found MRSA in the inside seating area and outside seating areas of steambaths. 

In 2004, an MRSA  outbreak occurred among football players at Western Carolina University, and doctors trace it right back to the locker room, shared towels, equipment and mats.

But gyms also are breeding grounds for fungi, protozoa, viruses and other bacteria, surviving on the surface of shared gym equipment or towels, just waiting to infect the body through an open wound, causing red, swollen, painful, and even fatal, skin infections.

To avoid carrying MRSA and other bacteria home with you, Hardy and other health experts offer these tips:

• make sure the gym staff keeps all of the facility clean and dry, and that the air is property ventilated;

• bandage any skin that have cuts or abrasions;

•  do not share personal items, such as towels;

•  use a barrier, such as clothing or a towel, between your skin and equipment;

•  wipe surfaces of equipment before and after use;

•  wash your hands before and after workouts;

•  bring and use your own clean towel only for mopping your sweat rather than drying your hands;

•  avoid touching your mouth, eyes or face, since most germs are transmitted this way;

•  wear sandals in the locker room, shower and sauna;

•  Sit on a towel in the sauna to avoid contact with the seat.

Source: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

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