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Here is an enlightening piece of information I came across recently, and it is particularly relevant if you participate in contact sports, are a member of a Gym, or participate in a sport involving rapid exercise.

According to a new study in the British Journal of sports medicine, the hepatitis B virus can be passed from one person to another through sweat during contact sports. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) apparently is environmentally stable. In other words it can survive for a long time out of the body in blood and bodily fluids. What was not known previously is that it can survive in sweat.

The implications of this finding are frightening and the discovery came about after eight Olympic wrestlers tested positive for HBV.

Most people have heard of hepatitis B and it is usually only people such as public service workers, emergency service workers, doctors and nurses who have routinely to take special precautions against contracting the virus in addition to becoming vaccinated.

However the implications of this discovery imply that should you for example handle sweaty gym equipment, or lie on a sweaty weights bench after someone who carries the hepatitis B virus, you may be at risk. Equally rugby players, football players, and other high activity sports participants, may also be at risk in the shower room or sauna, especially if in contact with sweaty towels or sports gear from an infected person.

This also has implications for schools and universities. Awareness is needed and a system of basic hygiene should be examined. The information is particularly relevant to parents who may now need to educate their children to the dangers of possible infection from sweaty sports gear and towels.

Personally I think it would be prudent for everyone including students who find themselves at possible risk, to seek vaccination at the earliest convenience as
a sensible preventative measure.

Tags: hepatitis b, sweat, bodily fluids, blood, basic hygiene



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