January 31, 2007 12:31 p.m. EST
Matthew Smith - All Headline News Sports Reporter
Minneapolis, MN (AHN) - An outbreak of herpes has forced all Minnesota high schools to shut down their wrestling programs until Feb. 6.
The Minnesota State High School League (MSHL) has temporarily banned all competition due to 24 cases of herpes gladiatorum reported by 10 teams in the state.
The virus can be spread from skin-to-skin contact with symptoms including lesions on the neck, face and head.
"Our goal is to be able to isolate and reduce (the infection) and to allow us to make sure those student-athletes that should be are cleared to wrestle in the section and have that chance to advance to state," MSHSL associate director Craig Perry told the Star Tribune. "When we weighed everything and sat down as a staff and looked at what we thought was in the best interests of student-athletes, an eight-day shutdown gave us a greater chance to ensure that we had the right kids qualifying for sections and state. That's what it was all about; it was in the best interest of the student-athletes."
The suspension should avoid any potential disqualifications at the state tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 28-March 3.
First signs of the outbreak were reported at a tournament in Rochester in late-December.
Dr. Henry Balfour, an virology expert at the University of Minnesota, says that wrestlers are more prone to extract herpes because of the nature of the sport.
"Usually you have to have damage to the skin," he said. "If there is a break in the skin ... then the virus could take and cause a skin infection."
Infected wrestlers must sit out their matches and get doctor clearance before they are able to return.
A former wrestler, Dr. B.J. Anderson, who is a health adviser to the high school league, told AP the greatest fear in that the herpes could spread to the eye, potentially causing scarring or blindness.
A similar outbreak in occurred in 1999, when 63 wrestler were infected, and several were disqualified from the state tournament, according to Anderson.