Niles game is still on in spite of staph case

Public awareness about MRSA is causing more inquiries to the county health department.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

NILES — Friday’s football game between Niles and Howland will be played as scheduled despite a Niles player’s coming down with a drug-resistant staph infection.

“We’re sure that Niles has taken care of it properly,” said Bruce Johnson, Howland athletic director who has experienced three similar cases involving athletes in his school district since fall.

Friday’s game will be played here.

Joe Barber, Niles athletic director, said the football player’s infection in the only one he knows of in the district.

Barber said the athletic trainers are made aware of possible infections and sanitize the locker rooms.

“This is everywhere,” said Johnson, who has been studying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and developed a program to reduce the possibility of more infections.

Johnson said Wednesday that there have even been reports of the bacteria on the grass of athletic fields.

Niles McKinley High School remained open as the football locker room was sanitized after a football player was identified as having the drug-resistant staph infection.

Superintendent Rocco Adduci said Wednesday that the player remains hospitalized. Kathy Salapata, a registered nurse at the city health department, noted he is recovering “very well” at a local hospital.

Adduci said the school district has taken all the precautions recommended by the city health department.

Salapata, who has been monitoring the case, said the results of tests received Wednesday show a preliminary positive response of MRSA.

The football player had a cut knee, Salapata explained, and that may be how the staph bacteria entered his body.

The parents of football players have been sent letters explaining the infection, Salapata said.

Dr. William Eddy, city health commissioner and school physician, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not require a letter be sent to all parents in isolated cases.

He said the chance of the infection’s spreading is “not very likely.”

MRSA infection is not a reportable disease to the Trumbull County Health Department.

Selene Layton, the county health department’s director of nursing, said because of more public awareness about MRSA, she is receiving more inquiries about it.

Layton noted there is no way to tell at the county level if more people are being infected.

If parents suspect their child has an infection, Dr. Eddy recommends they see a doctor and a culture be taken. The preliminary results will be available in 48 to 72 hours.

He cautioned people not to share clothing or razors and to wash their clothing regularly.

Johnson added that there should be frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitizers and that cuts be kept covered.

Gone are the days, Johnson said, when a cut or scrape can be ignored. It must be cleaned and bandaged to ward off a staph infection.

He pointed out that student athletes must shower after practice. Some don’t shower, instead waiting to go home. Johnson also said that the athletes must wash their practice clothing and wipe down their equipment.

“This thing has become a countrywide problem,” the athletic director said. “Just about every school is dealing with this. If not, they will be.”

Howland has had three athletes with staph infections this year: two from the varsity football locker room, one in the middle school, and a freshman who contracted it at the high school locker room.

Howland’s program, Johnson said, includes sending parents information about the bacteria.

All of the locker rooms have been pressure-washed and fogged each week with Saniguard, which kills a number of bacteria, including staph. In addition, all dry surfaces are wiped down daily.

A professional cleaning company cleans the wrestling facilities, including purifying the air and sanitizing mats. The health department regularly tests for bacteria, Johnson explained.

yovich@vindy.com