Ballston Spa says 2 students had staph Both have returned to school; district undertakes cleaning
By CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Staff writer Wednesday, October 17, 2007
BALLSTON SPA -- The high school has doubled its cleaning efforts and launched a personal hygiene campaign after two students contracted a dangerous infection.
Two students had confirmed cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of staph infection resistant to antibiotics. The students were treated by their family doctors and have returned to school, said Stuart Williams, spokesman for Ballston Spa schools.
The school district sent a letter home to parents of high school and middle school students today informing them of the MRSA cases and explaining how families can protect themselves. The Ballston Spa Middle School is connected to the high school.
The first Ballston High student to get the infection visited the school nurse on Sept. 12 and the second saw the nurse on Oct. 2, Williams said. Both had skin infections later diagnosed as MRSA.
The two unidentified students are on sports teams, but not the same team, he said.
The school started an education campaign within the school in early October. Health, physical education teachers and coaches talked with students about personal hygiene and asked them to wash their hands and skin, clean their sports equipment, and refrain from sharing equipment. The staff was also told to watch for open skin wounds on students.
A third student with a suspected infection was identified and treated, but it is not a confirmed case of MRSA, Williams said.
Beginning last Thursday, the school doubled its cleaning routine in the locker rooms, pool, weight room and sports equipment storage rooms, Williams said.
The incident bolsters a recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that shows MRSA infections are increasing in the general community, not just hospitals where it has been a problem for decades. MRSA bacteria can often be found on people's skin and nasal passages and are harmless until they enter an open cut or wound. The infection can kill tissue and is potentially fatal.
A 17-year-old student in Bedford County, Va., died on Monday of an MRSA infection and five other Bedford County students have had MRSA infections in the past several weeks. School officials there closed the entire Bedford school system on Wednesday to disinfect the buildings with smoke bombs and bleach.
The Saratoga County Health Department advised Ballston Spa school officials about cleaning methods and recommended the school reach out to parents.
``Just because of the national things going on with MRSA and community-acquired MRSA, which this would constitute, (we wanted) to get the word out to parents not to overlook potential symptoms of an infections,'' said Terry Stortz, director of preventative services for the health department.
When I first started nursing MRSA was fairly new....upstate it was considered an infection that was rampant in NYC area and as folks migrated upstate it became more wide spread up here.....we deal with it ALL the time.....the folks that seem to be at the highest risk are those with decreased immune responses, either from steroids, anti-inflamitory drugs, auto immune drugs, allergy meds, arthritis meds,abuse of antibiotics for viruses, etc.....anything that will lower the immune response....that is what I have read about it......the closer we live/play together the more we are exposed.....after all---we are THE HUMAN ANIMAL.....it's a good thing we dont lick ourselves clean......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
GUILDERLAND Local student diagnosed with drug-resistant staph
A student at Guilderland High School has been diagnosed with a case of staph infection that is resistant to common antibiotics. Late Thursday afternoon, following student dismissal, district officials were informed and have confirmed that a student at Guilderland High School has been diagnosed with Community Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA). A letter was sent home Friday afternoon with all students, K-12, explaining the situation and providing parents with a fact sheet. Guilderland is one of a number of school districts in the state dealing with this issue and is working closely with the Albany County Health Department on the prevention of it in the district. “We want to assure parents that the Guilderland Central School District is doing all that is necessary to provide a safe and healthy school environment for both our students and staff,” a statement from the district said. “We continue to reinforce good hygiene practices with our general student population, as well as our athletes because they may be particularly susceptible. Please encourage your children to wash their hands thoroughly with soap, which health authorities tell us is the best preventive measure for this infection,” the statement said. The district has also implemented preventive measures in its school buildings to try to eliminate the spread of the bacteria. Additional cleaning and sanitizing efforts by the custodial staff throughout school buildings are taking place with special emphasis on physical education and sports equipment, locker rooms, bathrooms, and common surfaces and areas. The student is not an athlete, officials said.
So did this MRSA just come on board in this area? First ya hear about it on the news and read it in the newspaper, and the next thing ya know....it's everywhere. Perhaps there have been other cases in the past, but it just never made the news. If not, this is just a weird coincidence.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
10 Men Contract Staph Infections in NY Friday, October 19, 2007 8:26 PM
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Nine athletes and a coach at Iona College contracted an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, which has spread through schools nationwide, health officials said Friday.
The outbreak was under control and the one student who was hospitalized has been released, said Dr. Joshua Lipsman, the health commissioner in Westchester County, just north of New York City.
Staph infections, including the serious Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, have spread in recent weeks through schools across the nation, according to health and education officials.
A high school senior in Virginia died of the disease Monday, his mother said. And dozens of high school students and some teachers in districts around the country have contracted the illness this fall, officials have said.
Lipsman confirmed that the Iona cases were MRSA, which does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs.
Cecelia Donohoe, spokeswoman for the college in New Rochelle, said all the cases had been caught early and were mild. She wouldn't identify the team, citing privacy concerns, but Lipsman said all the victims are male.
The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound. Lipsman said Iona was dealing properly with the infection.
He and Donohoe said team members with open wounds have been forbidden to play, the weight room had been disinfected and all students have been advised about proper hygiene, such as scrupulous hand washing and not sharing razors or towels.
MRSA began showing up years ago in hospitals before working its way into prisons, schools and other community settings. School athletes appear particularly susceptible because of cuts and scrapes, bodily contact and the sharing of equipment.
Schools where the infections have been reported have closed to be sanitized before reopening.
The government earlier this week issued its first overall estimate of diseases caused by MRSA, finding more than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from it.
Mohonasen sent a letter home to parents to inform them of 2cases...just for legal purposes I'm sure.....it is after all, always someone else's fault.....but, thanks for the info....it is good to be informed....now wash wash wash.....and dont touch your classmates and their equipment....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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