HERPES SCARE
CCHS wrestlers, others quarantined after outbreak

Area high school wrestling mats have been idle as officials respond to an outbreak of a virus commonly referred to as "mat herpes."

Officials at Cameron County and Coudersport schools said Thursday they are confident that proper precautions have been taken to protect students from the highly contagious skin virus, herpes gladiatorum.

They said none of the athletes from either school have been affected and they expect the wrestling season to continue on schedule within a week.

The schools responded to a state-mandated quarantine after a Phillipsburg-Osceola High School wrestler, who participated in the Jan. 5 Coudersport Duals, was diagnosed with mat herpes.

A check with the Pa. Dept. of Health confirmed that about a dozen other schools in Pennsylvania reported wrestlers coming down with the virus.

Coudersport Athletic Director John Merrick confirmed that the Phillipsburg wrestler had competed at the Jan. 5 tournament.

"We consider our school to be clean," Merrick said. "One of the schools at our tournament, Oswayo Valley, did have at least one wrestler diagnosed with the mat herpes virus . . . Most schools went in a preventative mode to be on the safe side."

Merrick said, at this point, Coudersport's wrestling team expects to continue its season as scheduled on Tuesday with a home match against Kane.

Cameron County school officials were forced to cancel this weekend's planned trip to a tournament in Lackawanna County and a junior high tournament in Port Allegany. A varsity match against Port Allegany that was scheduled for Tuesday has also been called off as a safety precaution.

Herpes gladiatorum causes clusters of blisters or a rash, usually on the face, shoulders or neck. Once the virus enters the bloodstream, it will remain there and can reoccur. Infection is spread only by skin-to-skin contact. Signs of infection can appear as quickly as three days after infection and last up to 14 days.

After two or three days, the infection is only contagious through skin lesions, which is a common problem for grapplers.

Cameron County and Coudersport administrators have taken several protective measures to ensure the welfare of the students.

Mats, lockers and wrestling uniforms were disinfected and competition cancelled.

Once the 10-day quarantine period expired, Cameron County was able to hold its match against Johnsonburg on schedule Tuesday night, only to learn that a member of the opposing team had been infected with mat herpes, according to Athletic Director.

That prompted the school to impose another 10-day moratorium on competitive wrestling and contact during practices.

"I commend coach Scott Baker for his handling of the situation and thank our school nurse and administrators for their assistance in dealing with this threat," Sestina said. "To control the hysteria, we held group meetings with the wrestling team and answered individual questions. Everyone is taking it in stride. The best weapon against it is education."

Coach Baker said he was frustrated that not all schools in the region were aggressive enough in taking preventative measures.

"The simple solution would have been to quarantine every team for an eight-day period," the coach said. "If that would have happened, it would have been over by now."

He expressed hope that area schools will establish a protocol to deal with any future outbreaks.

Regardless of how the regular season goes, Cameron County does expect to send a strong contingent to the PIAA District 9 Tournament at Clarion University next month.

"This is something that has been near and dear to us," Baker said. "We are ready to start wrestling competitively again."