Full body cover

[Oldman]

A question for the more knowledgeable contributors:

What exactly does "full body cover" mean? In particular, does it mean long sleeves? I suspect not, but an incident at the JK relays made me wonder.

My understanding was that this requirement was introduced by the Scandinavians as there was at least a theoretical risk (if not actual experience) of infection from contaminated blood (eg Hepatitis C) if one orienteer left blood on a tree and another brushed against it afterwards, possibly with an open wound.

I pushed my way between two thorn bushes at the relays and scratched my bare arm in two places with quite severe bleeding (serves me right for not being where I thought I was!). But could another orienteer catch an infection if (as I assume) I left blood on the thorns? Any doctors (or rule interpreters) able to comment?

[DIDSCO]

Full body cover is: full cover of legs and torso, there should also be no gap between trouser and sock at the bend of the knee.
As it is only the torso that needs to be covered its perfectly ok to have a sleeveless top.

A few years ago alot of the swedish junior girls got disqualified for wearing tops that showed off their bare stomachs, was a bit of a fashion at the time. The rule book geeks in Sweden spoilt all the fun!

[EriOL]

My understanding was that this requirement was introduced by the Scandinavians as there was at least a theoretical risk (if not actual experience) of infection from contaminated blood (eg Hepatitis C) if one orienteer left blood on a tree and another brushed against it afterwards, possibly with an open wound.

I pushed my way between two thorn bushes at the relays and scratched my bare arm in two places with quite severe bleeding (serves me right for not being where I thought I was!). But could another orienteer catch an infection if (as I assume) I left blood on the thorns? Any doctors (or rule interpreters) able to comment?

It was a lot more than a theoretical risk that forced the swedish orienteering federation to introduce the rules about full-body-cover. In the beginning of the sixties close to 100 swedish orienteers were infected with hepatitis (whether it was hepatitis C or one of the other types no one really knows), a few died from the disease and some never recovered enough to ever run an orienteering-course again. All those who were infected had to spend several weeks isolated in a hospital. A first-hand account of this epidemia can be found in Per-Johan Perssons book "Orienteringsliv" (if you're the kind of person who enjoys reading 500 pages in Swedish about orienteering I recommend buying it here: http://www.lok.se/index.php?page=406 ).

The assumed way of transmission was not actually bare legs "rubbing" against the same bush but rather that runners with bleeding wounds bathed in the same small pond or washed in the same sink afterwards. The three main measures taken to fight the epidemia were:

1. A complete stop for all orienteering events in Sweden for half a year.
2. The introduction of the full-body-cover rule to lessen the amount of bleeding wounds.
3. Introduction of showers on all events. The important point about this is that the water can flow away freely and that no two competitors wash in the same water.

[Copepod]

The general consensus is that you can be infected by dried blood which contains some viruses eg Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, but not HIV / AIDS. Obviously, the dried (or fresher) blood needs to get into an open wound in yourself. There is a vaccine available against Hep B, but not Hep C or HIV. Hep B vaccine is part of the national schedules of many countries, but not the UK, where is available to high risk people eg health & sanitation workers etc. Hep A, by the way, is spread by the faecal oral route, not blood, but does have a vaccine.