Published: May 16, 2008 04:22 pm            

ROY-HART SCHOOLS: Eighth grader dignosed with MRSA

Staff reports

MIDDLEPORT — Royalton-Hartland School District notified parents this week that a student was diagnosed with the antibiotic-resistant staph infection known as MRSA.

Superintendent Paul Bona said a “standard” letter was sent home with students in kindergarten through eighth grade on Thursday alerting parents to the case. Also sent was a fact sheet about MRSA (pronounced “mer-sa”) provided by the state health department.

The student, an unnamed eighth-grader, is being treated and is fine, Bona said. The district was informed by the student’s physician at mid-week. Bona declined to say whether the student remains in school or is being treated at home.

“From what I understand, everything is running (its course). We have not been made aware of any problems,” he said. “The physicians have notified us that ... everything is under control.”

MRSA, short for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body. It’s tougher to treat than most strains of staph because it’s resistant to some commonly used antibiotics.

Alerting the community to the single known case is district protocol, according to Bona. All families with students in both the elementary and middle schools were notified because some teachers travel between them, he said.

MRSA spreads from an infected wound, according to Wanda Smiley, director of nursing and patient services at Niagara County Health Department. If the wound is covered and the bacteria doesn’t make direct contact with surfaces, there is little threat of it spreading to another’s open wound, she said.

Bona said common surfaces including desks, door knobs and railings already are wiped down with disinfectant daily, as part of the district’s program to combat flu virus.

District parent Amy Cummings, who has children enrolled in middle and elementary schools, said the alert left her wanting more information.

“The (health department fact sheet) ranges from saying some people harbor the bacteria for years without showing symptoms to saying the infection can cause death. I think we need to be informed of the severity of this child’s case, whether or not he’s still attending school, how concerned we really should be of this case being contagious,” Cummings said. “The letter we were given was pretty vague.”

Legally, it’s not necessary for the school to inform parents at all about a single diagnosed MRSA case, Smiley said, nor is it the school’s call whether a diagnosed student or staff member stays away during treatment. It’s a physician’s call — and in most cases the physician will recommend the wound stay covered and the patient simply stay out of the gym, the pool and the shower room, she said.

MRSA is far more common than most people think, Smiley added, and in otherwise healthy people an infection is perfectly treatable.

“Most of us carry a colonization of (staph) in our nostrils. It’s on our skin. ... We fend it off,” she said. “In some cases there are children who’ve been diagnosed and you never even know it.”

Notices go out in the school community because administrators don’t want parents hearing the feared acronym through the grapevine, then wondering why the school didn’t tell them, Smiley suggested.

“It’s such a hot ‘n heavy word these days. When people hear it, they get upset,” she said. “I could say, ‘oh I have a staph infection in my big toe’ and you wouldn’t think twice about it. Say ‘MRSA’ and it’s a different story.”



TO CUT SPREAD OF MRSA

• WASH: Or sanitize hands frequently

• DON’T SHARE: Items that touch bare skin, such as towels, athletic equipment

• COVER: Cuts and scratches with clean bandages

Source: Niagara County Health Department

        

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