Caroline Baity and another student had been “hitting the gym pretty hard” at the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center for a few weeks when they found something to be amiss.
Baity, a third-year sport and entertainment management student, began to find clusters of flesh-colored bumps on her inner thigh after using an inner thigh press machine four or five times a week. This was diagnosed as molluscum contagiosum, a viral skin infection that does not present many medical risks.
Her friend, however, was not so lucky.
The third-year exercise science student who had been accompanying Baity to the gym and also using the inner thigh press machine noticed a strange-looking bump on her inner thigh. She initially took it to be an ordinary razor bump. The next day, it began to hurt, so she scheduled an appointment at the Thomson Student Health Center.
That “razor bump” was actually MRSA — Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — an antibiotic-resistant, potentially life-threatening and highly contagious Staph infection. It often emerges as this student’s did — small, red bumps — but quickly progresses into deep, painful sores that must be surgically drained.
About one in three people carry MRSA on their skin or in their nose, according to Judy Chontos-Komorowski, the assistant medical director of the Thomson Student Health Center’s general medicine clinic. The MRSA often remains dormant until one of these “carriers” transmits it through personal contact or exposing any kind of open sore or wound to a surface.
MRSA can live outside the body for weeks to months and can be transmitted from a surface to someone’s body through any kind of break in the skin, including a razor bump, like the infected student had.
By the end of the week, the student was in emergency surgery. She could know within the next two weeks whether she’s rid of the infection for good, or if she could have to deal with it for the rest of her life.
“It spread so fast, there was nothing I could do,” said the student, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the nature of her infection.
Now, her life has been flipped upside down.
“I have to basically spray Lysol after everywhere I go. It’s been a complete 180-degree spin on everything,” the student said. “I now have to clean 24/7. I have to do laundry three times a day. I feel like a giant germ. I don’t want to touch anything or anybody.”
What is already a potentially deadly infection for this student turned doubly troublesome when she returned home to her apartment. One of her roommates has an autoimmune disease, which almost forced her to move out.
While Baity’s infection was benign, it’s still forced her to incorporate extra cautionary steps into her daily routine to keep the wart-like bumps from spreading to other parts of her body. She only wears leggings or long pants, including while asleep, and never touches her leg without washing her hands immediately after.
Because of the location of their infections, Baity and her friend are “convinced” they came from the inner thigh press machine at Strom.
“I can’t think of anywhere else where I would have caught it, especially on my inner thigh,” the student said.
While Dr. Chontos-Komorowski did not treat either woman, she said it is possible for MRSA to be transmitted through contact with workout equipment that has been contaminated with MRSA.
“People who share articles of clothing or exercise equipment are at risk, certainly in a college atmosphere,” Chontos-Komorowski said. “But we can never really determine where the infection comes from.”
If this case came from Strom, it’s the first time it has happened, according to Herbert Camp III, director of campus recreation.
“I am not a medical expert … but it’s very unlikely, considering all the cleaning we do,” Camp said. “We have not had any instances of MRSA being found on the equipment here.”
Strom staff conduct three- to four-step cleaning processes on every piece of workout equipment in the gym each morning before its 6 a.m. opening. Additionally, all equipment is treated with Bioshield 75, an antimicrobial protective coating, every 60 to 90 days, Camp said.
“That’s a step that a lot of other places don’t take,” Camp said. “It provides an additional level of safety.”
Reminders are posted throughout the facility instructing students to wipe down exercise equipment before and after each use, but the guidance is not always followed.
“We depend on students to do what we ask them to do, but we have staff to encourage them to do it,” Camp said.
But Baity and her friend both said they “don’t see the people behind the desks do anything.”
Baity’s infection hasn’t deterred her from going to Strom, albeit with new precautions, but the student now dealing with a potentially deadly infection doubts she’ll ever return.
“Gross stuff doesn’t bother me, but this is something that could affect me for the rest of my life,” the student said. “A lot of people are ignorant as to how quickly it can spread. I thought I had a spider bite, but within two days I had a giant infection.”
But what she and Baity said they want most is for people to be more cautious while working out and follow posted safety instructions.
“I wouldn’t want to discourage people from going to Strom; it’s just that you need to be a little more cautious,” Baity said. “You can really hurt other people and it’s not something you even think about.”