No cases of MRSA reported this year

By Susan Gibbs, Record Reporter
Published: October 2, 2008

With school back in session and so many children having close contact with one another, bacteria can easily spread.
One of those is MRSA—a strain of staphylococcus aureus that is resistant to certain antibiotics. MRSA is responsible for serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia.
As a result, “More attention is paid to areas where the virus might be present,“ says Superintendent of Schools David Jeck.
Though exact numbers were not available, “there were a few cases” of MRSA reported within Greene’s school district last year, says Denise Shifflett, administrative assistant to the health coordinator.
Those cases were all treated and at press time, no cases of community-associated MRSA have been reported this year - either within the Thomas Jefferson Health District or the Greene County School District.
MRSA occurs most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities who have weakened immune systems. But community-associated MRSA can occur in healthy people who have not been recently hospitalized nor had a medical procedure within about a year.
While the Virginia Department of Health requires reports of all cases stemming from health care facilities, it does not require reports of community-associated cases “unless there is an outbreak,“ says Thomas Jefferson Health District entomologist Elizabeth Davies.
These community-associated MRSA infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.
Symptoms of the infection include small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. People are advised to keep an eye on minor skin problems, and to see a doctor if they become infected.
Signs of infection include a redness, warmth, and tenderness of the wound, pus that may have a foul smell, and fever.
It spreads by one person having contact with another’s infection; by sharing personal items, such as towels or razors, that have touched infected skin; and, by touching surfaces or items, such as bandages, contaminated with MRSA.
In addition to taking care not to share personal items or touch contaminated items, proper hand-washing, say experts, is important. Hands should be scrubbed briskly for at least 15 seconds and dried with a disposable towel. Another towel should be used to turn off the faucet.
Carrying a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol for those times soap and water is not nearby, is also advised. The school district, says Jeck, provides hand sanitizers.