Los Gatos kids bound to get serious abrasions on artificial turf increasing risk of MRSA
Do we need to be worried our kids might come down with a staph infection after scraping an elbow or knee playing tag or a game of soccer on LGUSD's proposed artificial turf play fields?
LGUSD's landscape designer lists among the drawbacks of artificial turf that "turf burns can increase the risk of MRSA".
What do turf burns look like?
For those unfamiliar, "turf burn" is a skin abrasion resulting from the friction and heat experienced sliding or skidding across artificial turf. Healthline explains it may feel as if your skin has been scraped against sandpaper. While scrapes and scratches from sliding or skidding across natural grass may also cause pain, that pain "may be moderate and subside within hours or days" while in sharp contrast "pain from turf burn can be intense and last for one or two weeks until the abrasion heals."
"Turf burn can lead to a staph infection. These infections are caused by the staphylococcus bacteria. This type of germ is found on the skin, but can enter the body through scrapes and cuts. A staph infection can be life threatening if it enters your bloodstream."
Are these risks just theoretical? Does stuff like this only happen to other people's kids? In other places? No. It happens here in our community...
This story from a Saratoga student describes how what "looked like a little cut" that her sister got playing on the artificial turf field at her Saratoga school evolved into an itchy, spreading rash. "The doctors said that the chemicals from the crumb rubber on the artificial turf contaminated her knee, and if they don’t do anything soon, the chemicals can hurt her bones and kidney. She got hospitalized right after, and fortunately got better. Our family still wanted to know what chemicals were actually in the “treasures” of the turf and if people actually cared about the effects of these chemicals, since they almost nearly killed my sister."
This Los Gatos mom of 3 former child student-athletes cites recurrent staph infections as plenty of reason to keep artificial turf out of Los Gatos schools.
A member of the LGUSD staff (that asked not to be named) warned, based on years of personal experience playing soccer on artificial turf, that both the K-5 children that play on the fields and the children in the sports leagues that rent the field are bound to get scratched up by the artificial turf.
Here's a direct plea from a soccer coach to keep artificial turf off the fields in his district partly motivated by student experiences with cuts and lacerations.