Schools report 2 cases of superbug
Students treated for MRSA infections
Students treated for MRSA infections
An ounce of prevention
Following are steps that students and their parents can take to prevent MRSA:
Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Encourage athletes to practice good hygiene by washing their hands, covering any wounds and not sharing personal items and towels. Wipe surfaces of exercise equipment before and after use.
Ask children to tell their parents about any open or unhealed wounds. Clean wounds and cover them with a clean, dry bandage. Wounds that do not heal properly should be seen by your health care provider.
For more information, go to:
At least two Lowcountry students have been diagnosed this week with a dangerous, antibiotic-resistant "superbug."
A James Island Charter High School student was being treated Wednesday for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. And on Monday, a Fort Dorchester High School football player was diagnosed with the infection and had surgery Tuesday to remove the affected area.
Medical experts caution that parents should not panic about their children catching the infection just by going to school. MRSA usually is transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared items that were in touch with someone else's infection. While MRSA is more resistant to antibiotics, it can be treated with a half-dozen medicines.
"This is a large and growing problem, but it is not a cause for alarm or concern just because a child goes to school," said Dr. Robert Ball, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. "However, if your child has an abrasion or another break in the skin, then be especially vigilant daily and seek medical attention immediately if it begins to look infected."
Staph infections, which include MRSA, are not conditions that are required to be reported to DHEC because they're so common, Ball said. The department tracks the infection only when clusters are detected. A cluster is a handful of cases that are linked, such as cases occurring among members of an athletic team or a family. No clusters have been reported locally this year, and the last clusters here were in 2003, when two area football teams each had about 12 cases.
More cases and clusters of MRSA are found in families than schools, and the average cafeteria or classroom poses no more risk for MRSA infection than the home, Ball said. Infection can happen in areas in schools where students have frequent close, personal contact with exposed skin wounds or where they share towels or equipment, he said. He cited athletic teams as an example.
Still, some districts nationwide have closed down schools to disinfect their campuses after students were found to have MRSA.
James Island Charter High Principal Bob Bohnstengel said a student injured her foot last weekend and got treatment for it outside of school. On Wednesday, the student needed further medical attention after the wound became infected. DHEC confirmed the infection was MRSA, he said.
School officials were told this was an isolated incident that wasn't related to the school and that no students, staff or visitors were exposed to the infection, Bohnstengel said. The student wasn't on a school athletic team, he said.
Still, the school has taken extra precautions, such as double-checking with its cleaning staff to ensure they are up to speed on proper cleaning techniques. The school's athletic director has directed coaches to ensure that locker rooms are sanitized appropriately, and the school's entire staff was made aware of the situation, Bohnstengel said.
Elliot Smalley, county schools communications director, said he wasn't aware of any other cases of MRSA in the district.
All of the district's nurses, food service managers, janitorial staff, plant engineers and maintenance mechanics have learned about MRSA prevention during the past two weeks. The district's athletic director will be developing a protocol for disinfecting weights and other athletic equipment, and coaches got tips to prevent the spread of the bacteria.
At Fort Dorchester High School, Principal Jim Atkinson said the infected football player will return to school only when he's cleared by his doctor. School officials decided to err on the side of caution by sending the student home Monday after the school's nurse noticed a suspicious pimple on the student's arm, Atkinson said. His parents took him to the doctor, where he was diagnosed with MRSA.
The school sent an automatic phone message to all parents informing them of the situation. Safety experts came to Fort Dorchester and supervised a cleanup effort where classrooms, the weight room and locker room were disinfected, Atkinson said.
No other cases have been reported at Fort Dorchester so far, although another football player told Atkinson he planned to go his doctor and get checked for the bacteria Wednesday afternoon.
"There is fear and anxiety created anytime something like this happens," the principal said.
Summerville High School had a student infected with MRSA earlier this year, but that student has returned to school. Dorchester 2 Public Information Officer Pat Raynor did not return repeated calls for comment Wednesday.
The Berkeley County School District has had three cases of the bacteria this year involving a student at St. Stephen Elementary, a student in the district's adult education classes and a teacher.
Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com. Reach Mindy B. Hagen at 937-5433 or mhagen@
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Comments
This article has 10 comment(s)
Posted by bhippey on November 1, 2007 at 7:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know, but I've been taking EXTRA special care in making sure my son's wounds are cleaned, neosporined, and bandaged. I think I would flip the f out if something like this happened to him, or anyone else in my family. How scary.
I like how these incidents don't have to be reported to DHEC, because they happen quite often. Don't all accounts of AIDS and HIV have to be reported to DHEC? According to the news, MRSA kills MORE people than HIV or AIDS. SO tell me again, WHY these cases don't need to be reported.....
Posted by leblackw on November 1, 2007 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Anyone else concerned that we are creating such an anti-germ community that it will have adverse effect on our immune systems and cause future generations to get sicker, easier, and more often because they will be so sheltered from normal, everyday germs?
Not to say that MRSA isn't serious enough to make me want to immediately bathe in Purell, but generations before us didn't place such an emphasis on sterility (thanks, Chlorox...guess you need to generate revenue from somewhere) and now we've got all these "super-bugs" and medicine resistant strains of bacteria/viruses. Scary...!
Posted by bhippey on November 1, 2007 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm allergic to just about every cleaner out there...I can't use bleach, and of the bathroom cleaners, no spray and wash, not lysol.....I use the orange oil products for the furniture polishing. But it's plain old soap and water for me and my family. That's all I can use to clean the kitchens and bathrooms. I can use oxy clean and regular laundry detergents, though. We don't get sick very often. WHen we do it's because my son brought something home from daycare....I don't use antibacterial wipes or purel. The only thing underneath my sink is a squirt bottle with soap and water in it, sponges, and scrub brushes. There are some people that spray lysol on EVERYTHING and use clorox everywhere they can. Not me. even if I could touch the stuff, I wouldn't use it. Thank god my pediatrician is against using anitibiotics unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. Some doctors will just write up a prescription for augmentin and call it a day. Atleast she tried other methods first. She knows you shouldn't overuse antibiotics. Yes they help make you feel better sooner, but the germs get a chance to create their own immunities to the medicines. Don't be surprised if next time you use it, it's not as effective. Your doctor might just prescribe something stronger. I don't have a primary care doctor. I only see my allergy and asthma doctor. She likes to use other methods than antibiotics. I will only take them if necessary. My family and I don't even really take over the counter cough and cold medicines either. We normally let our bugs run their course.
Posted by majorjohnson on November 1, 2007 at 8:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
According to the news global warming is an indisputable fact, if your child goes to the park he is 100% likely to be kidnapped and tortured, and the economy is in the hole. Don't believe everything you hear in the news. MSRA killed about 18,000 in the latest stats, half of whom were in hospitals or the health care system. Many of the others are in prisons. That leaves a very small percentage outside of those two areas. For the age range of high schoolers they are far more likely to die in an accident or from heart disease, and in fact deaths from MSRA are an extremely small percentage per mortality stats for this population.
As far as it happening often, that refers to staph infections as a whole which are extremely common and very rarely a problem. If every staph infection were reported the reporting system would soon be overwhelmed with useless data.
Posted by bhippey on November 1, 2007 at 8:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm talking about reporting MRSA. These should be documented. Not just your every day run of the mill staph infections.
Posted by armymom on November 1, 2007 at 9:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My son goes to Fort Dorchester and I have not received this "phone call"!
I have a very good friend who has had MRSA for a couple years, and its about killed her a couple times already. This article is CRAP! I know it's more easily spread than what this article relays. They can shut downs schools and clean all they want, it will not help if people who have MRSA keep touching stuff! It colonizes in the nostrils and every time they sneeze or wipe their nose its on their hands, then....on the doorknobs, on the desks, on the books, the bathroom sink faucets, toilet flusher, countertops, just THINK about it. My friend has studied so much about this since she was diagnosed the summer of 05. It's not that easily treated for young kids, older folks and especially anyone with a weak immune system.
For anyone who wants more info, check out www.mrsaresources.com
She told me 2 years ago that MRSA would be worse than AIDS and only now is info starting to creep out thru the media. This article is so wrong.....I dont know how they can get away with it. I dont believe in "scaring" the public, but telling them its nothing to worry about is not the answer. It's just wrong.
Posted by armymom on November 1, 2007 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
P.S.
MajorJohnson- Tho I agree with your sentiments about "global warming" and other similar world catastrophes [so called], MRSA cannot be lumped with those. It is a growing problem and it is worthy of concern. Bhippey is right, this is not your average staph, this is a monster staph, and it's only just begun. This is not a scare tactic nor hyper paranoia, it's just happening. That's it, it's just happening. Losing our heads and freaking out is not going to help, but neither will ignoring it and saying it isn't really happening.
Posted by majorjohnson on November 1, 2007 at 11:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Not saying it should be ignored, but I'm saying the media is playing it up for sales. It's a tiny blip in the list of mortality causes for school age children. It's also man made essentially. People stop taking their drugs before they've completed the prescription which assists staph in developing resistance to those drugs, and animals are packed with antibiotics on the farm without regard as to whether they are needed, furthering the exposure of harmless staph to traces of these drugs which helps them become resistant. It would have been nice if the article had mentioned that. It's essentially a scare story that fails to point out cause and effect.
Posted by katrenavantassle on November 1, 2007 at 3:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ArmyMOM,
I am not surprised that you didnt get the phone call from Fort Dorchester. This state's schools cover up alot more than the public knows...and all faculty members pat each others backs, and cover for each others mistakes all the time...they know how messed up SC is. The school probably forgot to call you about MSRA Student but I bet they called you about your childs over due library book or his last tardy day!! They need to get their prioritys straight. They get money from the state for every student, and they dont want to panic the public for fear that parents will pull out these children and they will loose funding. THAT IS THE REAL BOTTOM LINE.
Posted by martin on November 1, 2007 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have had 4 MRSA infections since March. The first got so bad so fast, required hospitalization, IV antibiotics, and surgical excision that left a hole in my armpit as big as my fist.
I have done much research and the most interesting thing I found this week was that pets can become colonized in nose, too, with cross infection back and forth with owners. I found this in a CDC paper from 2004. Search "MRSA and pets" and you will get to it. I plan to talk to my vet about having my 3 dogs' nasal secretions cultured and treating them if necessary.
Major Johnson, a lot of the profesional people blogging about this are very concerned about all the antibiotics given to cows, hogs, chickens that we subsequently eat as a possible major factor in the antibiotic resistance that has been increasing.