Infection risk a frightful new reality for players, medical staffs

In the end, Devin Adair's organs shut down. Quit working right there in St. Francis Hospital, 2,000 miles from his Southern California home. There was not a thing anyone could do about it.

The end of a vibrant life came quickly and treacherously. The Tulsa tight end's father, believing his son had improved, was flying home to California when he got the news on April 28. Dave Adair turned around and quickly grabbed a flight back to Tulsa.

Fullback Brandon Hancock was hospitalized with a drug-resistant staph infection. (Getty Images)

When he finally got home to Manhattan Beach, Calif., it was to bury his 21-year-old son. Devin Adair had been sick a week.

Four months after Devin's death, the shock has not worn off. Adair still greets visitors to his MySpace.com page, but now it is mostly slammed with messages, a virtual portal to the afterlife:

man i flippen miss you...

i know u up there lookin down on us talking to god about us.

dude..im in hawaii..yes..the vacation trip u were supposed to come with me on..

Devo!!!!! Happy Birthday. I hope u have a party when u in heaven.

as you know, Chris is having a little girl and he wants to name her after you.

Devin Adair died of a simple staph infection, one that probably went undiagnosed. The official cause of death was necrotizing fasciitis. In the vernacular, flesh-eating bacteria.

It sounds like a science-fiction movie: killer bacteria that have evolved to the point that they are resistant to entire classes of antibiotics. But the reality is players, coaches, trainers and doctors are increasingly frightened at even the slightest scratch. Such bacteria are a growing 21st century phenomenon. Outbreaks are more common since the beginning of the decade. And a front line of the battle is here and now in college football. It's not clear which side is winning.

Penicillin was a boon for mankind when it was introduced in the 1940s. But like a good offense, bacteria adjusted, became nastier, more insidious, more invasive, especially when humans started overmedicating.

"We've got to stop demanding antibiotics for everything," said Brett Cauthen, epidemiologist for the Oklahoma State Board of Health, who examined Adair's case. "Bacteria works real well against (them). They develop resistance."