Health Tip: Preventing Staph Infection

MONDAY Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Staph infections have been in the news in recent years after well-publicized outbreaks among some professional football players. They are likely spread through rough play, shared towels, whirlpools and weights.

But the best defense -- on or off the field -- may be better hygiene habits. Good hygiene helps prevent both staph and methicillin-resistant skin infections, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which offers these suggestions:

• Keep hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water.
• Keep cuts and abrasions clean and covered with a proper dressing (for example, bandage) until healed.
• Avoid contact with other people''s wounds or material contaminated from wounds.

-- Nancyann Rella