Preventing infectious disease in sports.
Preventing infectious disease in sports is fundamental to maintaining team effectiveness and helping individual athletes avoid the adverse effects of illness. Good general hygiene practices, immunization, efforts to minimize exposure to specific diseases, and certain prophylactic measures are essential. Teammates, coaches, athletic trainers, officials, and healthcare providers should actively participate in these preventive efforts, and community public health resources may be involved when appropriate. In addition to treating individual athletes, the team physician's role is to increase awareness, vigilance, and compliance with procedures to prevent the spread of disease.
Howe
Warren B
WB
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 98226, USA. warrenbh@pol.net.