The league and the players’ union have jointly acknowledged the problem of MRSA infections at the Buccaneers’ facilities, and vowed to work together to deal with it.
In a joint statement, the NFL and the Players’ Association also acknowledged that Buccaneers cornerback Johnthan Banks is the third Buccaneers player to contract a MRSA infection since training camp.
“The NFL and NFLPA have worked together in response to the MRSA matter in Tampa Bay,” the statement said. “The jointly retained specialist has met with the team, supervised the inspection of the facilities, conducted medical examinations and agrees with the team medical staff that Mr. Banks does not pose a risk of transmission to other players. The specialist also met with team officials from the Eagles. All players have been advised of the process and we will continue to work together to jointly monitor the situation.”
There was some talk that the union was so concerned about the potential spread of infection at the Buccaneers’ facility that they would call for Sunday’s game to be postponed or canceled, but the NFL has confirmed that the game against the Eagles will go on as planned.
UPDATE 8:01 p.m. ET: An NFL source tells PFT that infectious disease specialist Dr. Deverick Anderson from Duke University found no evidence that the MRSA infections came from the team’s facility, and in fact found evidence that the infections are separate strains brought into the facility from outside.