Two University of Washington researchers have found a new link between alcohol and . . . mud wrestling?

Drs. Amanda Adler and Jeff Altman tackled the messy subject after 24 university students developed severe rashes a few days after engaging in a "mud-wrestling social event."Their findings are to appear in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"While drinking alcohol at the event was not an independent risk for the development of the rash, it was a significant risk factor for getting into the mud," they wrote.

As for the rashes, the doctors, said they usually result from exposure to fecal matter.

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Asked why she and Altman decided to study the problem, Adler laughed and said: "It was too good an outbreak to pass up."

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