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Schools in New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire sent letters
home with students warning about the risk after a Virginia
high school student died from an MRSA infection.
The MRSA bacteria spreads on contaminated surfaces such as
exercise equipment, school showers and locker rooms.
If it gets into skin through a cut, it causes red, swollen
and painful blisters that ooze pus or other fluid drainage.
Almost all skin infection cases can be treated by draining
the infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
But the drug-resistant bacteria is harder to treat if it
gets inside the body, spreading to the blood and internal
organs.
Dangerous infection
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Serious MRSA infections are most common in hospitals and
other medical facilities. |
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While 25 to 30 percent
of Americans have the Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria
on their body, only 1 percent has the MRSA variety.
Researchers say the drug-resistant form of the bacteria is
the result of doctors over-prescribing antibiotic medications
for common colds and ear infections.
Too many antibiotics in the environment favor bacteria that
mutate and become resistant to common antibiotic treatments.
The CDC reported recently that more Americans die from MRSA
infections than the AIDS virus. MRSA caused 94,000 life-threatening
infections and 18,650 deaths in 2005, WebMD reported, while
approximately 16,000 people died of AIDS in that year.
However, health officials stress that most of the deaths occur
in nursing homes and hospitals and that it is rare for a healthy
person to develop life-threatening blood or organ MRSA infections.
Symptoms of an invasive and potentially serious infection
can include fever, chills and shortness of breath. The infection,
confirmed through a skin or blood culture, requires treatment
with several extra-strength antibiotics.
Spreading to schools
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Students who play contact sports like football have a
higher risk for an infection. |
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The fact that the bacteria
is showing up in school settings, especially amongst sports
teams due to their close physical contact, concerns school and
athletic officials.
Students, teachers and coaches in areas with reported incidents
are taking precautions to clean exercise equipment, locker
rooms and other school facilities.
Fear of the bacteria has produced extreme reactions in some
communities. After NBC's "Today Show" filmed a report about
the infection outbreaks in front of Walt Whitman High School
near Washington, D.C., the principal had to send worried parents
an e-mail explaining that the show used the school "as a backdrop
to tell the national story, NOT because we have more staph infections!"
And an age-old sports ritual is in jeopardy: Whitman and Clarksburg
High School field hockey players, fearing contamination, refused
to shake hands after the game, The Washington Post reported.
Their coaches later ordered the girls to shake hands.
Protecting students
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The CDC said that hand washing can help stop MRSA from
spreading. |
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While parents, students
and school officials take extra steps to prevent more MRSA outbreaks,
the CDC guidelines about the bacteria offer calming perspective.
The primary ways in which the bacteria spread are called
the 5 C's: crowding, frequent skin-to-skin contact, compromised
skin (cuts or abrasions), contaminated items and lack of cleanliness.
People can protect against the bacteria by washing their hands
and showering after exercising, covering any wounds, not sharing
personal items like towels and cleaning surfaces that people
touch often.
CDC guidelines say that a student who has an MRSA infection
can even go to school, provided that the student's wound can
be safely covered, they maintain good personal hygiene and
that they do not participate in sports that involve skin-to-skin
contact.
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American schools and financial aid should be only for legal citizens of the United States. There should be no exceptions to this.
