THE MICROBIOLOGY OF THE CAMÁN.

Editor,

Camogie is a popular sport amongst women and involves an estimated 100,000 players, administrators, referees and coaches through 573 clubs across Ireland, as well as clubs in Europe, Australia and North America (www.camogie. ie). Fifteen-a-side camogie is a stickhandling, high velocity, multidirectional field sport,1 played with a hurl or camán, which is usually crafted from ash (Fraxinus excelsior) plants. The hurl is not allowed to be greater than 13cm in width at its base, thus combined with the high velocity nature of the game, sports injuries in camogie have been reported, which have mainly consisted of hand, facial and laceration injuries.2 Given the history and potential for lacerations and open wounds from hurl-related injuries, we wished to examine the microbiological flora of these, with particular attention to the types of bacteria that may be potentially introduced from the hurl into an open wound, from a laceration-related injury.

Hurls (n=24) were sampled anonymously from active amateur camogie players in the Ulster provincial game during active training sessions. A 2cm x 2cm area of each hurl was swabbed using a sterile pre-moistened transport swab (Sterilin, UK) and was examined microbiologically by inoculating the swab onto Standard Plate Count agar (Oxoid CM0463, Basingstoke, UK), followed by incubation at 37°C for 48h, as previously described.3 Resulting colonies, which were phenotypical different, were purified and identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization – time-offlight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry technology. The taxonomy of bacteria identified is shown in Table 1.

Seven bacterial species were identified from the surface of the hurls, including four Gram-positive bacteria and three Gram-negative bacteria, from six taxonomic genera. The natural niche of these bacteria is the environment, including soil, so it is most likley that the wooden hurls became contaminated when they were in contact with the soil on the grass pitch. Whilst some of the bacterial species isolated have previously shown some degree of pathogenecity in infection and therefore may be considered as opportunistic pathogens, they are not normally considered to be an infection risk to immunocompotent hosts, such as healthy camogie players.

Laceration injuries in camogie which are inflicted from a hurl should seek medical advice and appropriate wound management. GPs and Accident & Emergency clinicians should be aware of the spectrum of endogenous organisms from the player’s skin, as well as those detailed above originating from the hurl, in any related wound complication from such injuries. Additionally, whilst our study did not isolate any Clostridium tetani organisms, given the origin of the organisms we identified as being from soil, camogie players should ensure that they are have a complete and up-to-date tetanus vaccination record and should seek revaccination in accordance with the Green Book,4 where there is an incomplete vaccination history or where defecits exist.

Table 1

Description of bacteria identified from camogie hurls and their clinical relevance

Bacteria identified	Clinical relevance & pathological involvement in infection
Bacillus subtilis/vallismortis/amyloliquefaciensBacillus altitudinis/pumilusBrevibacterium iodinumKytococcus sedentarius	Soil organismsFormer: Opportunistic pathogen causing skin infectionOpportunistic pathogen. Natural host is soilOpportunistic pathogen responsible for keratosis plantaris sulcatum and common amongst athletes. Also responsible for peritonitis and fatal haemorrhagic pneumonia
Micrococcis luteus	Opportunistic pathogen isolated from protective equipment in Japanese contact sport Kendo
Morexella osloensis	Opportunistic pathogen causing skin manifestations and also osteomyelitis
Stenotropomonas rhizophila	Isolated from the rhizosphere of oilseed rape and potatoes.