MFISD addresses staph infection concerns

By Daniel Clifton • Daily Tribune Staff

MARBLE FALLS - In spite of reports a Dripping Springs Middle School football player came down with a drug-resistant staph infection, Marble Falls Independent School District officials said they are not worried about a pending game there.

The Mustangs sub-varsity football teams are heading to Dripping Springs today, but the varsity squad plays the Cavaliers at home Friday night. Officials with Marble Falls and Dripping Springs say they are taking every precaution to prevent further infections.

“We know they (Dripping Springs Independent School District) are doing everything on their end,” said Marble Falls Independent School District athletic director Cord Woerner. “They’re taking every precaution possible. And we’re continually taking action around the field house to try and prevent any staph infections.”

Staph, or Staphylococcus aureus, isn’t a new bacteria or even rare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 32 percent or 89.4 million Americans carry staph. CDC officials said the occurrence of a life-threatening strain isn’t as common as some reports are leading people to believe.

Spicewood Elementary School nurse Allyson Black said the bacteria is typically found on the skin and in the nostrils.

The problem, she said, occurs when a person breaks the surface of his or her skin, opening an entrance for staph into the soft tissue.

“Once you have a break in the skin and your immune system is down, a staph infection can set in,” she said.

Staph is typically passed by coming into contact with somebody who carries the bacteria or with a surface (such as athletic equipment, a towel or table top) that has been exposed.

MFISD Superintendent Ryder Warren said school districts such as Marble Falls have dealt with staph infections in the past. But recent coverage of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, has caused district officials to remind staff and parents about taking steps to prevent the spread of the disease.

“Even before the Dripping Springs report, there were several articles in the papers and on the Internet about this drug-resistant strain, so I e-mailed all 600 of our staff to remind them to take steps to try and prevent it,” Warren said. “Even if it meant reminding our (high school) seniors to wash their hands. The health of our students is a high priority for us.”

On Oct. 22, DSISD Superintendent Mard Herrick sent a letter home to parents informing them that one case of MRSA had been confirmed at the Dripping Springs Middle School involving an eighth-grade football player. By Oct. 24, the student had returned to class, but is not participating in sports.

Only 1 case reported

Only one case was reported in DSISD, and though it was a middle school football player there is no evidence he contracted the infection through his athletic participation.

Officials with the CDC are urging people not to overreact or panic when MRSA is reported.

“These aren’t super bugs,” CDC spokeswoman Nicole Coffin said. “There are drugs that can be used to treat these infections. And in some cases, drugs aren’t even necessary.”

MRSA has shown resistance to a group of drugs in the methicillin family, she said.

“Soon after antibiotics were introduced in the 1950s, staph became resistant to penicillin,” Coffin said.

As other antibiotics in the methicillin group were introduced to fight staph, resistant strains developed, officials said, but typically these strains were found in health care facilities.

“What happened about a decade ago was the report of MRSAs outside the health care facilities,” Coffin said.

This community-based form is a unique strain of staph, she said. But unlike its hospital-based cousin, the community-based strain isn’t as deadly.

“The number of deaths associated with staph that people are hearing about are predominantly from the hospital-based strain,” Coffin said.

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that this invasive form of staph infected an estimated 94,360 people and killed an estimated 18,650 in 2005.

“The same study those numbers came from showed that an overwhelming number, 83 percent, were health-care related,” Coffin said.

Black said one way to prevent the spread of staph is by washing hands.

“Hand washing is the key,” she said. “And any time you have a boil or a pimple, you don’t want to pop it. The body heals itself from the inside. If you pop a pimple or boil, you expose your tissue to any staph infection you might be carrying on your skin.”

Coffin supported Black’s assessment that hand washing curtails the spread of staph.

“There are three things we found that really help prevent staph infections from spreading. They are hand hygiene, cover draining wounds and don’t share personal items such as towels or razors,” she said. “Even in outbreaks we have studied, those three things have really shown to reduce the number of cases in those outbreaks.”

For more information on staph and preventing its spread, visit www.cdc.gov or www.dshs.state.tx.us

daniel@thepicayune.com

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MFISD addresses staph infection concerns