Summer Camp Sadness

More than 14 million children and adults will take on the summer camp experience this summer, and enrollment is continuing to rise. Summer camps come with such good memories, and nostalgia. For me growing up summer camp was the highlight of my summer. Sharing a living space with a bunch of new friends, spending multiple hours outdoors and in open water, and so on. It sounded amazing as a child but looking back I think to myself, how did I not develop some horrendous disease (mostly because I was that camper that never wore her shower shoes). But it turns out I was just simply one of the lucky ones to make it out of camp without a new infection of some sort.

Just the Facts

Camps all over the US report outbreaks yearly of skin infections such as impetigo, ringworm, swimmer's itch, etc. This can leave campers uncomfortable and at high risk to infect other children, in most cases sending them home early. 

Athletic Camps

Now taking what we know about regular camps, think about athletic camps but just up the octave a bit... or a lot. One website says, "Myriad dermatoses can affect athletes. One of the most common cutaneous manifestations of athletic activity are skin infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi.Many infections are contagious and may have serious ramifications for team practices and competitions. Knowledge of these infections facilitates implementation of rapid treatment and preventive measures to ensure the least disruption in daily team activities." Staphylococcal infection is the most common, but streptococcal infection is also common.Both organisms may present as various clinical disorders, such as impetigo, erysipelas, folliculitis,and furunculosis. These bacterial infections occur in athletes participating in sports in which close personal contact occurs, including rugby, judo, and wrestling.Furunculosis outbreaks, however, have been noted also in football and basketball athletes. One study showed that 25% of high school athletes in these sports developed furunculosis. On the viral side of these herpes is a commonly transmitted infection among athletes. In a study of 1 wrestling camp, 34% of participants were infected with herpes simplex. On the fungal side, tinea corporis shows up frequently as well. The frequency with which tinea corporis affects wrestling teams was found to range from 24% to 77% and varied with the methodology of each study. Clearly the evidence supports the claim. Athletic camps while beneficial for athletes could potentially cause more harm than benefit if proper measures are not taken. 

The Solution

Gladly, we aren't just left with these statistics and hoping your camper is one of the lucky ones who comes home clean. This is where COMPEL comes into play. integrating COMPEL into you hygiene routine while in season or during camp will providing another level of defense for your camper. COMPEL works to effectively fight off these specific diseases and heal those already infected. Applying COMPEL during showers, after workouts, and/or in you morning or night routines will allow your skin to resist creating the environments needed to breed these atrocious bacteria/ viruses all while moisturising and hydrating the skin which as we know is crucial for everyone especially athletes. If I knew about COMPEL during my sports camp days I would've used it in a heartbeat, truly. Try it for your camper, or maybe yourself too!