A California high school wrestler who says he contracted a strain of herpes while competing in a wrestling match made a passionate call for the state wrestling championships to be canceled.
According to NBC affiliate KNTV, Blake Flovin got Herpes Gladiatorum, which is an infection similar to a cold sore and not an STD. Flovin sat out last weekend’s state wrestling tournament due to the infection, but he’s worried that other competitors may be at risk. Many of the athletes he wrestled in recent weeks were scheduled to compete.
“I don’t want other kids to get this,” Flovin told KNTV. “It’s not worth it to put the wrestlers at risk when this is totally preventable.”
A spokesperson for Clovis Unified School District told ABC 30 “If there is any possibility that the student has a contagious skin illness, they will not be allowed to continue check-in for the meet.”
According to Flovin, however, those screenings may not be perfectly reliable.
“I’ve definitely seen kids with makeup on different sores or whatnot,” he said, “trying to hide it from the refs when they do the skin check.”
The California Interscholastic Federation held the state meet as planned, and now must hope that Flovin’s call for cancelation was a false alarm.
