I thought I would post a few SCIENTIFIC facts that some people have requested. Just some background about myself, I do have several college degrees. I work as a paramedic and emergency room nurse. I have seen about every type of skin infection out there. As far as livestock facilities go there are several documented animal to human contamination. Some caused by zoonotic pathogens (which means an organism spread from an animal to human). Just to state a few types of skin infections that can occur- equine morbillivirus (hendra virus), salmonellosis, cryptospordiosis, leptospirosis, yersiniosis, campylobacter, and ringworm. Yes, these all sound bad but usually with treatment they do clear up quickly. But that brings up the point that most people do not do good skin checks on their kids at home which brings it to the mat for all of our kids (this is another soap box that I will get on some other time). People are also not being educated on the antibiotic resistance that is occuring with some of the bacterial infections. Antibiotics are being placed in animal feed to promote faster weight gain. Which is allowing the bacteria strains to mutate and become resitant to most antibiotics. I think that I could go on forever about this whole subject, but I won't bore you all. We also have not gone to the Wichita Classic. I think that because of some of my knowledge I am a little more cautious about certain things. I think that the main point should just be common sense though and educating yourself to all the things out there that your child can contract (not just from a horse barn). I carry purrel in every bag that we own for while we are at tournaments. As soon as we leave a tournament my son washes with antibacterial soap and then selsum blue. We have managed to only get ringworm once in the 5 years he has wrestled and nothing else. I will say while we do need to watch for MRSA, I have seen 3 recent cases in the ER from sport contact.
