Local doctors say antibiotic-resistant staph infections have been on the rise here in the Valley in recent years. They say while it used to happen mainly in hospitals, staph infections are now occurring more widely among otherwise healthy people in the community.

So where can you get it?

News 3's Jesse Corona tells us about one possible place and how to avoid getting sick.

Staph bacteria love warm, moist environments. So sweaty gym towels, exercise mats, and rubber equipment handles can be breeding grounds for the pesky bugs. And if you happen to have an open wound and come into contact with someone else's staph infected sweat, there's a good chance you could catch a staph infection.

Staph infections are more common in mixed martial arts or boxing gyms where direct human contact is the norm. But the chances of getting a staph infection in your neighborhood gym are relatively small. That's because most gyms are very conscious of maintaining a sanitary environment and clean equipment.

"What we try to do to prevent something like that from happening is by doing the three things: having the people to come in to clean the gym, spraying the equipment down, and having the wipes to hopefully lessen the chances of that happening," Jared Festner, co-owner of AnyTime Fitness, said.  

The best thing to do is to use wipes on exercise equipment before and after you use a piece of machinery. Southern Nevada Health District says staph infections are not a reportable illness, so is therefore not something they track or keep records of.