Heat Pill Keeps Athletes Safe
Reported October 17, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- The third leading cause of death in athletes is heat illness. It can be difficult to prevent because sometimes players show no signs of a problem until it's too late. Now technology invented for NASA is helping players on the football field.

It's a coach's job to push his athletes, but how do you tell when a good practice turns dangerous? Overheating can be fatal. It killed NFL player Korey Stringer and a freshman football player in Florida in 2001.

"I've been coaching for 30 years, and I pray that nothing like that ever happens," says Jim Leavitt, head football coach at University of South Florida in Tampa.

That's why Coach Leavitt had his players test a new technology to reduce heat illness in athletes. Ten players -- the bigger, at-risk guys -- swallow a capsule like this one about two hours before practice. The pill, which contains a battery and an electronic transmitter, travels into the intestines, so it isn't affected by the cold water players drink. At practice, trainers hold an electronic sensor close to the players' backs, and crystals inside the pill sense body temperature.

Eric Coris, M.D., USF medical team physician, says, "We start to get concerned around 102, and then particularly 103 is where typically you'll pull people away from activity."

Through a radiofrequency signal, the pill transmits information, which is tracked on a laptop.

"This just gives us an additional tool to try to head off severe problems before they develop," Dr. Coris says. NASA developed the technology, called CorTemp, in the 80s. "The technology has become more affordable and more portable to a point where we can use it in this kind of environment." And doctors hope it will help them better understand how to keep athletes out of trouble in the heat.

The pills are taken daily and last in the players' system for about 24 hours. Each pill costs about $40. Players who have had intestinal problems are not candidates for the pill. The University of South Florida football team is participating in this test thanks to a $20,000 grant from the NFL.