You’re at the gym riding your stationary bike and feel soreness on your testicles.
The pain is getting worse as the movement aggravates the discomfort in this area. You become alarmed and finish your workout early. In the shower you are shocked to see a red, tender, swollen area on your sack.
Of course, you panic about what could be the cause. You immediately recall hooking up with that guy a week ago.
Your gut instinct told you not to trust this guy, but of course you had sex with him anyway. D/d free? Right! But you used a condom, you tell yourself. However, this does not resolve your fears that you’ve contracted an STD from him.
Without a second thought, you set up an appointment with your doctor for the next day. After a brief exam, your doctor states that you most likely have contracted MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
He tells you that Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as “staph,” is bacteria commonly carried on the skin, rectum or nose of healthy people without causing any disease. Sometimes the bacteria don’t cause any problems.
But sometimes it can cause infections. Infection usually arises when some type of skin injury occurs. It typically causes a pimple or a boil but can cause more serious infections.
Staph infections can be easily treated with common antibiotics. However, when the staph becomes resistant to common penicillin antibiotics, it’s called MRSA.
You’re still wondering: How did you get this infection? You reluctantly confess to the doctor about having casual sex a week ago, feeling sure this had to be the cause.
But your physician begins asking you a lot more questions, interested that you frequent the gym three to four times a week, use the sauna after most workouts – and regularly shave your testicles.
You want to ask, “Don’t you shave yours?” But you refrain. He also asks if you’ve been to a bathhouse or used crystal meth. You said no; well, it had been more than a month ago on a business trip that you stumbled upon that bathhouse in Toronto.
You ask your doctor why he is curious about all of these activities.
He informs you that, during the past 20 years, MRSA has been mostly limited to patients in hospitals or nursing homes. However, recently it has appeared outside this setting. Although it is not an exclusive MSM (men having sex with men) disease, it is commonly affecting gay men.
You learn that MRSA is contracted through direct or indirect physical contact and not through the air. Although not a sexually transmitted disease, you could have contracted MRSA through skin-to-skin contact during sex, and skin-to-skin contact appears to be the most likely way to get the infection. You know you got it from him, you think to yourself.
But MRSA can also be contracted by touching objects contaminated by someone else’s infected skin. The most likely objects: Towels and sheets at gyms or bathhouses, benches around whirlpools and in saunas and on sport equipment. So that is why your doctor needed to ask you those questions.
He tells you he has seen an increase among crystal meth users in his practice, again, likely because of spread of the disease by skin contact, sexual activity and shared needles.
You then ask your doctor how MRSA can be treated. He tells you that, while MRSA can’t be treated with standard antibiotics, it usually can be treated with oral medication – Bactrim being most common.
He obtains a culture by swabbing the lesion to make sure the medication will be effective in treating the infection. He tells you that, had you waited any longer before coming in, he most likely would’ve needed to drain the lesion and that, rarely, hospitalization is required.
You learn that MRSA is much more likely to cause disease when there is some compromise to the skin, with this commonly being caused by shaving body parts which can cause micro abrasions. Ah, shaving your balls! Also, dry/cracked skin is compromised, which is common in the winter.
Your doctor informs you that you can protect yourself from infections by practicing good hygiene.
He reminds you that you can have totally safe sex and still get this disease. He applauds you for using condoms! But he wants to know a few more details about your sexual experience. Oh, boy, you thought confessions were over!
He asks you if you took a shower after you had sex last week. You told him that only a warm, wet washcloth was provided to have a quick clean up and then you went straight to the gym to meet your workout partner. He told you to be sure to wash your hands, body, and genitals thoroughly with soap and water after you have casual sex.
And at the gym it is impossible to prevent all exposure from sports equipment.
He told you to take your own towel to the gym, to take a shower after working out and to keep any abrasions or cuts bandaged or covered. If you’re sitting on a bench in a sauna or around a whirlpool, you should be sure to sit on your towel.
Maybe that was the cause. You did follow that cute guy that was eying you into the sauna and sat on the bench without your towel. But you kept that to yourself. The doctor told you to wash your gym clothes and towel after each workout and that the same principles apply if you frequent bathhouses.
If your skin gets dry and cracked during winter months, he reminded you to use moisturizer and take tub baths to hydrate your skin.
He told you, since you have an active staph infection, you could prevent spreading by keeping the wound bandaged or covered and washing your hands frequently with soap and warm water, especially after touching the infected area.
After a week of taking medication, you woke up and noticed your sore was completely resolved. You packed your clean towel and workout clothes and headed straight to the gym.
The moral of the story? If you get signs of a staph infection, see your doctor as soon as possible.