A Frightening Off-Field Foe

"So my stomach is a disaster," Noble said. "They still don't know exactly what I have. They're just treating me for what they think I have, and it's definitely working. They've got me on stuff that'll kill a horse."

What scares him the most, Noble said, is that his doctors aren't certain how he got this infection. They tell him he could have gotten it from an infected stitch from last fall's surgery, but they don't know for sure.

"Maybe from my knee getting drained," Noble said. "And it can just float around inside of you unless they kill it with the antibiotics. It can go to your brain, your lungs, wherever, and there it is. They don't know how you get it and they can't tell you how or where. It's scary. It really is scary. . . . You wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. . . . Every doctor I've been to, I'm like, 'How did I get this? Tell me how I got this, so I can not do whatever it was.' But they can't say. It could be in you. It could be on you. It could be next to you."

Francis said NFL players could face an increased MRSA risk.

"What would put an athlete at risk is contact, like in wrestling or football," Francis said. "A great deal of person-to-person contact is a risk. If a person has an open wound and it comes into contact [with an MRSA carrier], that is a risk. If people are in a locker-room setting and are using the same towels or the same whirlpool, that is a risk. Shared equipment would be a risk."

Nine cases of MRSA were found in a minor league baseball team in 2003, according to the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers' Society. In eight cases an abrasion caused by sliding eventually became infected. All nine players fully recovered, though five faced a recurrence of MRSA the next season.

The most serious MRSA case in a football player occurred at the Division III college level. Ricky Lannetti, 21, of Philadelphia, a senior at Lycoming College and a wide receiver on the school's football team, died from MRSA on Dec. 6, 2003, in Williamsport, Pa.

Casolaro said Redskins with skin infections are treated with an antibiotic that can cover the MRSA bacteria, and often that medication at an early stage can be taken through the nostrils two times a day for 7 to 10 days. Tyer said all the MRSA cases on the Redskins other than Noble's were successfully treated with oral antibiotics.

Casolaro said that whenever there are any bodily secretions involved with an injury, "it is presumed to be contagious," by the doctors and athletic trainers, who also use an antibacterial rinse to treat abrasions.

"We culture every abrasion," to know how to treat it and "to know if it's MRSA or not MRSA."

He said the team has a physician on site every day during training camp, and four days a week during the season, and all keep an eye on any infection issues. He said the team's training staff also uses a special anti-bacterial soap found in hospitals.

The CDC's recommendations to the public for preventing staph infections apply to pro athletes as well: frequent hand-washing, keeping cuts and scrapes covered with a bandage, avoiding contact with other people's wounds and avoiding sharing personal items like towels and razors. And health experts have long warned that over consumption of antibiotics can lead to the development of resistant strains of infection.