Sports & staph: A new twist

A soccer player and coach for Australia's Brisbane Lions are both recovering from staph infections following surgery. While MRSA has become a common cause of skin and soft tissue infection in athletes, what is unusual here is that the pathogen infecting these athletes is Staphylococcus caprae, a coagulase-negative staph species that seems to have a predeliction for bones and joints. As the name implies, it's more commonly a pathogen in goats. Interestingly, although both players were operated on at the same hospital, the organism was not thought to be transmitted there, and efforts are underway to decontaminate the team's facilities.