Mat Herpes

Martial arts students and instructors are often covered in sweat. Infected bodily fluids, shed skin, and sometimes body lice will make their way into the mats that absorbs the impact from their controlled falls. If these mats remain unwashed for many months, skin infections can manifest (being a contact sport, martial artists are often prone to breaks in the skin leaving them vulnerable to infection. This is a broad term that defines any skin condition contracted from dirty dojo mats.