Effectiveness of body wipes as an adjunct to reducing skin infections in high school wrestlers

Abstract

Objective: To compare soap-and-water body wipes and 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) body wipes to a CONTROL (no treatment) in reducing skin infections in high school wrestlers competing in weekend tournaments.

Design: Repeated measures study evaluating a soap-and-water body wipe, a 70% IPA body wipe, and no-treatment CONTROL during 2 weekend tournaments.

Setting: High school wrestling tournaments in Minneapolis-St Paul and surrounding communities of Minnesota.

Intervention: Each team was randomly assigned to use either wipe or serve as CONTROL during each tournament.

Main outcome measures: Presence of skin infections that developed the following week after a weekend tournament.

Results: A total of 151 athletes competed in a total of 474 individual matches. Thirteen athletes tested positive afterward for skin infections. The odds of infection for the tested group compared with the CONTROL group were 0.089 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.01-0.75; P = 0.026] for the soap-and-water group and 0.44 (95% CI, 0.11-1.69; P = 0.23) for 70% IPA group.

Conclusions: Soap-and-water wipes seem to be more effective in reducing skin infections compared with the no-treatment group.