Deadly MRSA in several states

Staph infections confirmed at schools in several states.

"School officials around the country have been scrambling this week to scrub locker rooms, reassure parents and impress upon students the importance of good hygiene." This "heightened alarm comes in response to a federal report indicating that...bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, are responsible for more deaths in the United States each year than AIDS."

"MRSA...is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin or related antibiotics, though it can be treated with other drugs." MRSA "infection can be spread by sharing items, like a towel or a piece of sports equipment that has been used by an infected person, or through skin-to-skin contact with an open wound."

Last "Wednesday and Thursday, scores of schools were closed and events were canceled in Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia as cleaning crews disinfected buses, lockers and classrooms." Additional closings were slated for Friday.

"Reports of MRSA in the nation's schools has shifted the focus and raised concerns about the dual challenges of school-based infection control and treatment of MRSA in a pediatric population." Buddy Creech, M.D., of Vanderbilt, stated earlier this month that "the problem is compounded by the lack of agreement about 'choice of first-line therapy or the duration of therapy.'"

Clindamycin & trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole among others are used as the preferred first line treatment and treatment are usually continued for 7 to 14 days."