Winslow, 5 others at Browns suffered Staph Infection. What is Staph infection?

Winslow is angry! And so he should be!

I’ve been reading about Winslow ranting about the facilities at Browns, and he’s damn right..

In an ESPN article by one of my fav writers James Walker, Browns pro bowl tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. has revealed that he has been hospitalized because of staph infection (pronounced “Staff”) for the last 2 two weeks.  No one in the Browns team knew about this as the management decided to keep it a secret. Winslow was quoted saying:

“Nobody knew that I had staph on the team because the Browns didn’t want it to get out,” Winslow said. “But it’s my teammates’ right to know what’s going on at the facility to protect them. Their safety is at risk, too, and I didn’t agree with the Cleveland Browns, because they are protecting the organization and not the players.”

Winslow says that this is the 6th case of staph infection at Browns in the last 2 years! Well, either it’s the sport or it is the facilities at Browns. Now since I had never heard of Staph disease (sorry, infection) befoew and considering that this is the 6th case, I wouldn’t play for Browns if I were one of the healthier team members.. 😉

Here’s the original article at ESPN

Whats Staph infection? (Biological term: Staphylococcus)

Staph (again, pronounced “staff”) infection is caused by staphylococcus aureus bacteria. staphylococcus comes from a greek word meaning grapes… and thats what the bacteria look like when seen from a microscope.

How does staph infection happen?

The bacterium (staphylococcus) is so common that 25% people almost always carry the bacterium in their mouth, nose, genitals etc. Problem arises if it enters your blood stream through a cut.

What happens if you have Staph infection?

Generally Staph infections produce pus in the body.  Some examples of Staph infection are:

Folliculitis – Often when you clothes rub against skin, hair follicles get filled with white puss (sounds disgusting)

Boils – On the face, chest, neck or anywhere else, when you have puss filled rounded, heightened skin (c’mon you know what a boil is)

Styes -Have you seen anyone with a swollen upper of lower lid of the eye? I’ve seen some people – again happens because of the hair follicles of eye lashes getting infected.

Impetigo – When kids get red scabby skin or blisters around their mouths or noses?

Abscesses – Pus or normal swelling on the skin or anywhere else in the body.

Food poisoning – Mostly even food poisoning is caused by the staph infection or staphylococcus bacterium.

Other life threatening health problems – In worst cases, it can also cause pneumonia, endocarditis (heart infection), bacteremia (blood infection), toxic shock syndrome and others!! Jesus Christ!

There’s much more info available if you search for staph infection on Google.