Dangerous infections close several schools

Buildings are being disinfected before they can be reopened.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two unconfirmed cases of a staph infection highly resistant to antibiotics resulted in the closing of public schools in the Dayton suburb of Fairborn on Friday.

Pam Gayheart, spokeswoman for the Fairborn school district, said two students at Fairborn High School may be infected. She said the schools were closed so buildings can be disinfected and will reopen Monday.

Four students at an elementary school in another western Ohio community were sent home a day earlier with possible staph infections.

Huntsville Elementary School about 50 miles north of Dayton was closed Friday for a teacher professional-development day and was being disinfected.

The MRSA drug-resistant bacteria strain has been found in some Pennsylvania schools, forcing some to close down and sanitize their buildings.

MRSA is a staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics, though it can be treated with other drugs.

A pupil at an elementary school in Delaware County’s Rose Tree-Media School District was diagnosed with the superbug and the school was closed so it can be sanitized.

A girl on the soccer team at Chichester High School in Boothwyn also was diagnosed with the bacteria. She is home recovering from a leg infection.

Chichester High has been sanitized and has reopened. After-school activities were called off Thursday while the work was being done.

In western Pennsylvania, 17 school districts in Allegheny County have reported MRSA infections in students this year. Most recently, 10 Mount Lebanon High School students — nine of them football players — were diagnosed with MRSA.

County health officials took samples from the football team’s lockers, weight room, training room and field to test for the bacteria, but all the samples came back negative Friday.

Cases have popped up elsewhere in the state, including at a DuBois Area School District elementary school and at Clarion University, among other places.

State health officials don’t track MRSA infections, so it’s unclear whether the recent rash of cases is unusual. The bacteria, which are present on the skin and in the nose of healthy people, can cause infection when it gets into the body through cuts on the skin.

Outbreaks are common among sports teams, in schools, prisons and military facilities, health officials said. A recent government report suggested that more than 90,000 Americans per year get an invasive form of the disease.

“This infection has been around for a number of years and experience has shown us that its spread can be prevented by simple measures like hand washing, practicing good hygiene, and immediately seeking medical attention when you have a skin infection,” state Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson said in a statement Friday.