Staph deadly in Virginia; new case reported in Howard County
I informed you about the recent slew of staph outbreaks last week. Here’s an update. A 17-year-old Virginia high school student died after being hospitalized with the infection last week. As a result, officials shut down 21 schools for cleaning to keep the illness from spreading. Read more in this article.
Last week, Ruma reported that four local high schools - Severna Park, Glen Burnie, Old Mill and Chesapeake - had received reports of 28 staphylococcus infections over the past three weeks.
On Friday, Wilde Lake High School in Columbia informed parents that one student had been infected with the staph. The school shared the following safety tips to protect against the infection:
1. Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
2. Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.
3. Avoid contact with other people’s wounds or bandages.
4. Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors.
5. Use a barrier between your skin and shared equipment.
5:20 p.m. UPDATE: Read this article about a disturbing CDC report. One official believes that deaths tied to the drug-resistant staph "superbug" could exceed those caused by AIDS.
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Comments
I work in a suburban hospital on an OB unit. We have a policy about children visiting (no one under 12 unless they're siblings) but visitors lie and sneak their small children in - to visit moms and newborn babies. They actually have their kids lie to us about being siblings. Nice. I always wonder how many viruses and bacteria we're allowing into the setting, even when it's the siblings visiting. I'd love to see a study done about how liberal visiting hours and policies have affected infection rates. It's really out of control here.
Posted by: Night Nurse | October 17, 2007 12:49 PM
MRSA is not a reportable infection...until it is we'll never know how many cases are out there. Ask any school nurse and I'll bet each one has already seen a case or two since the school year started. Boils...that's what you need to ask people about. Bad "bug bites"- how many of those have you seen? MRSA is out there to stay- what we need most is to educate parents and children to be clean and cautious...handwashing, bathing, covering wounds and changing those coverings regularly.. Even more radical is the concept that without a magic bullet to rely on, we have to tune up our immune systems and protect our ability to fight disease by living well. How many of these kids are stressed out, over tired, eating poorly, and not properly monitored by parents who are themselves stressed and pushing the limits. And watch what happens when the need to get to work outweighs the need to keep a child at home whose own health may be at risk. How many of us are selfless enough to be looking out for the public health by keeping an infected child at home? Hang on, we're in for a long rough ride!
Posted by: anonymous | October 17, 2007 11:19 PM