Staph Infection Warning
posted 11:14 am Sat October 13, 2007 - RICHMOND, Va.
Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where football players and other athletes - perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions - share sports equipment, officials say. Staphylococcus aureus bacteria infections generally are not life-threatening.
However, the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain can be especially stubborn. MRSA, pronounced "mersa," resists treatment with penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. MRSA got its foothold in hospitals and in recent years has spread to other community settings, including schools.
In Virginia, a Newport News high school closed its weight room Thursday after at least four students were infected - at least one of them with MRSA, local school and health officials said. The MRSA patient, a football player, was hospitalized Sunday and released Wednesday.
Michelle Price, a spokeswoman for Newport News public schools, said the weight room and equipment would be disinfected over the weekend. Information about the skin infections and how to prevent them was being sent to parents, she said.
Galax High School postponed it's Friday football game against Grayson High until Monday due to a confirmed case of MRSA on the football team. School officials said they weren't able to get the equipment cleaned in time for the game to be played before Monday.
Several students also have been infected with staph in Bedford and Campbell counties, officials said, and one Bedford student required hospitalization.
The Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Health Department do not compile staph infection data. However, state public schools spokesman Charles Pyle said the department's health specialist has received about eight calls regarding the problem since school started after receiving only two calls all last fall.
"We're not viewing this as something to be overly alarmed about," Pyle said.
He said the department will send information about prevention and treatment to Virginia's 132 school districts for distribution to schools and parents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta also has no national data on staph infections but is aware that it seems more widespread, spokeswoman Nicole Coffin said.
"Most of these are mild infections," she said. "They can be as simple as a pimple or a boil, or as serious as a blood infection."
MRSA is spread mostly through personal contact, she said, although sharing personal items or equipment used by an infected person also can spread the bacteria.
Frequent and thorough handwashing is one of the most important preventive measures, she said. Also, open wounds should be covered and people should avoid sharing items like towels and razors.
Virginia is not the only state experiencing a rash of infections. In neighboring Maryland, more than two dozen staph infections have been reported by four Anne Arundel County high schools over the past three weeks. School officials there also said there was no cause for alarm, adding that crews have been scrubbing all 12 high schools with a hospital-grade disinfectant.
A volleyball player at White Knoll High School in Lexington, S.C., was being treated for a simple staph infection, school officials said Friday.
"Every school probably has somebody with one of those many things," Lexington School District One spokeswoman Mary Beth Hill said.
In late September, five high school students in Waterloo, Ill., a suburb of about 9,500 near St. Louis, were treated for apparent staph infections. Waterloo Superintendent James Helton said it was the school district's first problem with the bacterial infection and health officials hadn't identified a source. The high school was thoroughly cleaned after the students were treated.
In Ohio, staph infections have been reported recently in several school districts. The 800 students at Troy Christian Schools were sent home 90 minutes early Tuesday as a precaution after at least one student contracted MRSA. Superintendent Gary Wilber said classrooms, lockers, student belongings, school buses and other equipment were disinfected.
A football player at Indian Creek High School near Steubenville was out of school briefly two weeks ago due to an MRSA infection. A professional cleaning company was called in to disinfect the school.
"You've got to be concerned," Principal John Craig said. But he said people need to be realistic as well. He said staph infections can be contracted wherever groups of people gather.
At Beavercreek High School in suburban Dayton, officials have disinfected the football players' locker room and weight room, and reupholstered exercise equipment, after a couple of students reported being diagnosed with nonresistant staph infections a few weeks ago.
Last month, a football player at Grove City High School near Columbus was hospitalized for six days with what started as a staph infection in his foot. The school's locker room and training rooms were disinfected.
Health officials in North Carolina and Florida reported increases in staph infections.
"Most of what we hear about is athletic teams in school settings" because there's close contact, said Zack Moore, epidemic intelligence service officer with the North Carolina Division of Public Heath.
Roger Sanderson, an epidemiologist with the Florida Department of Health in Tampa, also said sports teams seem to be most affected by staph infections.
"Nobody (in Florida) has reported any major outbreaks. We do have schools that might have four or five cases and we go in and give them basic infection control, like handwashing, not sharing towels or razors, which football players do sometimes," Sanderson said.
Pennsylvania health officials have received "scattered reports" of infections at schools but don't view the situation as a major public health threat, state Health Department spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman said.
"It's typical this time of year with the fall and students heading back to school," Kriedeman said.
Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., reported two cases of MRSA involving athletes in late September, and at least two dozen athletes at three New Hampshire schools recently came down with skin infections.
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Associated Press writers James Hannah in Dayton, Ohio; Steve Hartsoe in Raleigh, N.C.; Brent Kallestad in Tallahasse, Fla.; David Caruso in New York; Alex Dominguez in Baltimore; and Martha Raffaele in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this story.
Latest Comment on Staph Infection Warning
whoaskedya
1:05 pm on 10/13/07
I agree totally! Even our local hospital has done away with the soapless, antibacterial despensers! My doctor has always told me to stay away from them and use good old soap and water unless there is NO other choice.
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