Gym Germs
KNBC Los Angeles
Transcript Of On-Air Report
Reported by Ana Garica and produced by Fred Mamoun
An exclusive undercover report. Ever wonder what that really sweaty person at the gym leaves behind on the equipment before it's your turn to get on?
Ana Garcia put some gyms to the test, and the results are not pretty.
GARCIA: What does that sweaty person at the gym leave behind on the equipment? Sometimes, more than just sweat.
DR. LOREN MILLER, UCLA-HARBOR MEDICAL CENTER: There's potential in these gyms to get an infection.
GARCIA: Public health experts say that's because bacteria flourish in sweaty places.
DAN LEIGHTON, LABORATORY DIRECTOR, BioPath: This is where you're going to do the tests?
MAN ON THE STREET: Nobody wants to work out in a dirty club.
GARCIA: We hired BioPath, a lab in Burbank to help us identify gym germs.
LEIGHTON: We've put together these test kits for you.
GARCIA: With kits in hand, the Channel 4 News Team went undercover -- sometimes with hidden cameras -- and started swabbing for bacteria. We tested three different sites per gym, including the locker room. In all we visited 20 gyms, boutiques and big brand names, and swabbed a total of 60 surfaces: handle bars, the pad where you rest your head, the mat you stretch on.
SISI SHUM, MICROBIOLOGIST: You found ecoli on the armrest? Right.
GARCIA: In other words, fecal matter. We also tested locker rooms, shower handles, changing benches, floor tiles.
SHUM: This is staph aureus.
GARCIA: Where did you find that?
SHUM: This is the one swabbed from the shower stall.
GARCIA: The lab says 30 percent of the tests found staph aureus.
MILLER: If you've ever had an infection on your skin odds are heavy that was a staph infection.
GARCIA: Dr. Loren Miller of UCLA-Harbor Medical Center published a study on a new strain of staph -- resistant to antibiotics. We DID NOT find that strain in our tests. Miller says it's more of problem for atheletes: some members of the USC football team had it. Hillary Swank says she got it while boxing for Million Dollar Baby, and so did 17-year-old Anna Huerta of Rowland Heights.
HUERTA: It first started with a cut on my foot.
GARCIA: She runs track at her high school.
HUERTA: The bacteria just got inside and it turned purple.
GARCIA: Infectious disease specialist Dr. Gary Bluestone says staph can live for days on a surface.
BLUESTONE: It's very hardy.
GARCIA: We brought our results to Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public heath for LA county.
FIELDING: Can some people be getting sick at health clubs? It's really hard to know, certainly wouldn't be a surprise.
GARCIA: Which is why Dr. Fielding sent this letter to gym owners in LA County warning them about "an increase" in "staph infections. Recommendations to "reduce the spread at gyms" include "cleaning and disinfecting" "equipment" plus leaving "spray bottles" out for patrons to use.
FIELDING: At minimum they should be cleaned thoroughly once per day.
GARCIA: Of the 20 gyms we tested, we found staph aureus at 40 percent of them and 65 percent with fecal coliform. Which had both? Bally's and Gold's Gym in Hollywood, Boulevard Gym on Robertson.
And the swanky Sports Club LA on the Westside? It may have Rolls Royces outside and celebrities in the SPA, but our testing showed there was staph aureus on an exercise mat and on the changing bench in the locker room.
(Video shows news crew at Sports Club LA)
SPORTS CLUB LA MANAGER: You can't come into the club with a camera.
GARCIA (addressing manager): Would you come out and talk to us?
SPORTS CLUB LA MANAGER: No.
GARCIA: Not one of the gyms we swabbed, including Sports Club, would talk to us on camera.
Other gyms with test results for staph aureus include: Gold's gym on Figueroa, downtown; LA fitness on Sepulveda in Van Nuys; LA Fitness on Wilshire in the Miracle Mile; and 24 Hour Fitness at 3699 Wilshire Blvd.
MAN ON STREET: You don't know where people have been.
GARICA: The only gym that came back with results of no bacteria: this Bally's in North Hollywood.
FIELDING: More and better cleaning certainly can reduce exposure.
GARCIA: The gyms that responded to us say maintaining a clean, safe facility is a top priority. Sports Club LA says they disinfect the restrooms hourly and the equipment three times a day.
Gold's says their strict cleaning policy requires anti-bacterial solutions be used to wipe down the gym twice daily.
24 Hour fitness and Bally's say they have the highest standards and disinfect throughout the day.
LA Fitness and Boulevard Gym had no comment at all.
GARCIA: But no matter how much a gym cleans, experts say they can't eliminate bacteria especially staph because it's all around us.
MILLER: It's hard to escape staph completely.
GARCIA: To protect yourself at the gym: wash your hands before and after exercising, wear long sleeves and long pants to reduce skin exposure, and always put a towel between you and the equipment.
Make sure you always keep the same side of the towel touching the machines by marking it with an X to remind you -- dirty side down.
KNBC Los Angeles
Transcript Of On-Air Report
Reported by Ana Garica and produced by Fred Mamoun
An exclusive undercover report. Ever wonder what that really sweaty person at the gym leaves behind on the equipment before it's your turn to get on?
Ana Garcia put some gyms to the test, and the results are not pretty.
GARCIA: What does that sweaty person at the gym leave behind on the equipment? Sometimes, more than just sweat.
DR. LOREN MILLER, UCLA-HARBOR MEDICAL CENTER: There's potential in these gyms to get an infection.
GARCIA: Public health experts say that's because bacteria flourish in sweaty places.
DAN LEIGHTON, LABORATORY DIRECTOR, BioPath: This is where you're going to do the tests?
MAN ON THE STREET: Nobody wants to work out in a dirty club.
GARCIA: We hired BioPath, a lab in Burbank to help us identify gym germs.
LEIGHTON: We've put together these test kits for you.
GARCIA: With kits in hand, the Channel 4 News Team went undercover -- sometimes with hidden cameras -- and started swabbing for bacteria. We tested three different sites per gym, including the locker room. In all we visited 20 gyms, boutiques and big brand names, and swabbed a total of 60 surfaces: handle bars, the pad where you rest your head, the mat you stretch on.
SISI SHUM, MICROBIOLOGIST: You found ecoli on the armrest? Right.
GARCIA: In other words, fecal matter. We also tested locker rooms, shower handles, changing benches, floor tiles.
SHUM: This is staph aureus.
GARCIA: Where did you find that?
SHUM: This is the one swabbed from the shower stall.
GARCIA: The lab says 30 percent of the tests found staph aureus.
MILLER: If you've ever had an infection on your skin odds are heavy that was a staph infection.
GARCIA: Dr. Loren Miller of UCLA-Harbor Medical Center published a study on a new strain of staph -- resistant to antibiotics. We DID NOT find that strain in our tests. Miller says it's more of problem for atheletes: some members of the USC football team had it. Hillary Swank says she got it while boxing for Million Dollar Baby, and so did 17-year-old Anna Huerta of Rowland Heights.
HUERTA: It first started with a cut on my foot.
GARCIA: She runs track at her high school.
HUERTA: The bacteria just got inside and it turned purple.
GARCIA: Infectious disease specialist Dr. Gary Bluestone says staph can live for days on a surface.
BLUESTONE: It's very hardy.
GARCIA: We brought our results to Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public heath for LA county.
FIELDING: Can some people be getting sick at health clubs? It's really hard to know, certainly wouldn't be a surprise.
GARCIA: Which is why Dr. Fielding sent this letter to gym owners in LA County warning them about "an increase" in "staph infections. Recommendations to "reduce the spread at gyms" include "cleaning and disinfecting" "equipment" plus leaving "spray bottles" out for patrons to use.
FIELDING: At minimum they should be cleaned thoroughly once per day.
GARCIA: Of the 20 gyms we tested, we found staph aureus at 40 percent of them and 65 percent with fecal coliform. Which had both? Bally's and Gold's Gym in Hollywood, Boulevard Gym on Robertson.
And the swanky Sports Club LA on the Westside? It may have Rolls Royces outside and celebrities in the SPA, but our testing showed there was staph aureus on an exercise mat and on the changing bench in the locker room.
(Video shows news crew at Sports Club LA)
SPORTS CLUB LA MANAGER: You can't come into the club with a camera.
GARCIA (addressing manager): Would you come out and talk to us?
SPORTS CLUB LA MANAGER: No.
GARCIA: Not one of the gyms we swabbed, including Sports Club, would talk to us on camera.
Other gyms with test results for staph aureus include: Gold's gym on Figueroa, downtown; LA fitness on Sepulveda in Van Nuys; LA Fitness on Wilshire in the Miracle Mile; and 24 Hour Fitness at 3699 Wilshire Blvd.
MAN ON STREET: You don't know where people have been.
GARICA: The only gym that came back with results of no bacteria: this Bally's in North Hollywood.
FIELDING: More and better cleaning certainly can reduce exposure.
GARCIA: The gyms that responded to us say maintaining a clean, safe facility is a top priority. Sports Club LA says they disinfect the restrooms hourly and the equipment three times a day.
Gold's says their strict cleaning policy requires anti-bacterial solutions be used to wipe down the gym twice daily.
24 Hour fitness and Bally's say they have the highest standards and disinfect throughout the day.
LA Fitness and Boulevard Gym had no comment at all.
GARCIA: But no matter how much a gym cleans, experts say they can't eliminate bacteria especially staph because it's all around us.
MILLER: It's hard to escape staph completely.
GARCIA: To protect yourself at the gym: wash your hands before and after exercising, wear long sleeves and long pants to reduce skin exposure, and always put a towel between you and the equipment.
Make sure you always keep the same side of the towel touching the machines by marking it with an X to remind you -- dirty side down.
