Buccaneers treat facility after staph infections are discovered

Carl Nicks is one of two Buccaneers players recently diagnosed with a staph infection. (Chris O'Meara/AP) The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have treated their facility

Doug Farrar | Aug 22, 2013

Buccaneers treat facility after staph infections are discovered /

Carl Nicks is one of two Buccaneers players recently diagnosed with a staph infection. (Chris O'Meara/AP)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have treated their facility after an outbreak of MRSA, a serious staph infection that has affected at least two players -- guard Carl Nicks, and kicker Lawrence Tynes. Both players have toe infections, and, according to ESPN, Tynes underwent surgery this week to alleviate the problem. The Buccaneers signed kicker Ryan Lindell on the same day Tynes underwent his procedure. Head coach Greg Schiano informed the team of the issue last week. The facility will be scrubbed again when the team is in Miami for their preseason game against the Dolphins.

The Mayo Clinic website lists Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as "caused by a strain of staph bacteria that's become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections."

"We had a company come in and nuke the building a week ago after the cultures taken from Nicks and Tynes confirmed it was MRSA," Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik told ESPN's Chris Mortensen. "It was a precautionary move, but we didn't want to fool with it. Our owners said spare no expense. We had the facility treated, and the league office approved of our actions."

Mortensen reported that Tynes sought a second opinion after he was originally diagnosed with an ingrown toenail, which failed to heal. The New York Hospital for Special Surgery confirmed the MRSA diagnosis.

As Alex Marvez and Mike Garafolo noted in a FOX Sports article, 32 dfferent NFL players were diagnosed with MRSA between 2005 and '08 before the league really addressed the problem. The most notable group of occurrences happened to the Cleveland Browns between 2003 and '08. Tight end Kellen Winslow, receiver Joe Jurevicius, offensive lineman LeCharles Bentley, receiver Braylon Edwards, safety Brian Russell and linebacker Ben Taylor were the officially diagnosed players. Several of those players sued the Browns' organization, claiming that the team did not provide a sterile environment, and team doctors failed to warn that proper precautions were not taken.

settled his suit

did the same

Published Aug 22, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.