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Nov. 07, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas student diagnosed with staph

By ANTONIO PLANAS and ANNETTE WELLS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
ADVISED ACTIONS

Steps you can take to prevent staph infection.

Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.

Avoid contact with other people's wounds and bandages.

Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors.

Wipe surfaces of exercise equipment before and after use.

Source: Southern Nevada Health District

A Clark County School District student has been diagnosed with a drug resistant staph infection, prompting the district to send letters to parents today informing them of how to prevent the infection while also calming fears about its seriousness, a medical official with the district said Tuesday.

School system officials learned Monday that a student at Stewart School has been diagnosed with the skin infection known as MRSA, said Diana Taylor, director of health services for the district. Taylor did not know the condition or age of the student. Stewart, near Flamingo Road and Eastern Avenue, serves about 200 special education students.

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    • Taylor did not know how, or where, the student became infected. As a preventive measure, custodians on Monday and Tuesday used disinfectants to clean areas of the school where the student had been. Taylor said the school wasn't shut down and no additional students or staff at the school were infected.

    Parents of nearly 309,000 district students will receive letters this afternoon informing them about Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which has been widely reported in recent months as being responsible for the deaths of a few students throughout the nation. It is sometimes referred to as a "superbug" because it is immune to common antibiotics and is being diagnosed in individuals who are considered healthy.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MRSA has been known to occur most frequently among patients who undergo invasive medical procedures or who have weakened immune systems and are being treated in a hospital.

    MRSA caused more than 94,000 life-threatening infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States in 2005, most of them connected with health care settings, according to the Oct. 17 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

    Taylor doesn't want Clark County parents to be fearful because one student was diagnosed with the strain. She believes it's the first time, however, that the district has alerted parents by letter about a case.

    "We're not talking about an epidemic," Taylor said. "It's not something that is running rampant in the district."

    MRSA is a type of bacteria that causes skin infections and is more resistant to certain antibiotics than other strains of staph. It is usually spread by direct physical contact with someone who carries the bacteria, regardless of whether they show signs of infection. However, it can also be contracted by contact with objects handled by an infected person, such as gym equipment and towels, said Martha Framsted, a spokeswoman with the Nevada State Health Division. This is why athletes are susceptible to the strain.

    Even though everyone is susceptible to MRSA, it is more likely to spread in group settings -- such as on sports teams, in correctional facilities and at schools -- where people have repeated contact with each other. The bacteria that causes MRSA can also enter the blood and infect other organs.

    Brian Labus, an epidemiologist for the Southern Nevada Health District, said his office reviewed the content of the letter being sent to parents to make sure it's accurate.

    According to the district's office of epidemiology, MRSA is common throughout Southern Nevada. In 2005 and 2006, about 17,000 MRSA cases were reported to the agency. About 3,600 of those cases involved youth under age 18.

    The data is based on lab samples sent to the health district from Quest Diagnostics and Mountain View, Sunrise, Southern Hills and St. Rose Dominican hospitals and University Medical Center.

    Even though that number doesn't represent all of the Southern Nevada's MRSA cases -- health care providers aren't required to report the infection to public health agencies -- Labus said the number does provide a gauge of how often the infection occurs.

    Labus said he didn't know how many Southern Nevadans died as a result of complications from MRSA because the health district only receives lab specimens. But he said the infection is rarely deadly.

    "It is fairly common here,'' he said. "We don't investigate the cases. We are just tracking them. If there's a cluster or some sort of large group of cases, then absolutely we want to hear about it.''

    In general, Labus said he believes people across the country are getting "overexcited'' about one or two cases of MRSA.

    "Kids are bringing it in the school and they are not having any problems. But when someone does get the skin irritation, that's when it becomes a problem because it spreads,'' he said. "The goal is to prevent it from spreading to other kids. The best way to do that is to teach proper hygiene.''

    Although local medical officials say MRSA fears are overstated, there have been recent documented cases in which students have died and schools have been shut down after infections were diagnosed.

    In mid October, a 17-year-old high school senior in Virginia died from the strain. The school system in Virginia shut down 21 schools to keep the illness from spreading. Later that month, New York City's Health Department determined that a 12-year-old boy likely died from a staph infection.

    Taylor said the district is acting appropriately in handling the situation at Stewart. She said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend shutting down schools after a student is diagnosed with staph.

    Instead it recommends thoroughly cleaning areas where students have been because the staph bacteria can live on a nonporous surface for up to a week.

    Superintendent Walt Rulffes said the letter being sent home to parents today is a sign the district is taking the threat of staph seriously.

    "We want to be in a preventative mode and make parents aware of it."

    Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 799-2922. Contact reporter Annette Wells at awells@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0283.



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    DWC wrote on November 08, 2007 09:11 AM: I heard that illegal staph is 9 times more deadly than legal staph.


    DJ wrote on November 08, 2007 06:40 AM: Nita: From your illiterate post I assume you are saying I do not know what I am talking about? So what if you have not seen it before? That does not mean it is not out there, and has not been! My husband ( we are both in our 40,s) has had two MRSA infections in the past three years, from a simple cut both times. Yes it hurts, yes it is getting MORE widespread. I did say that something needs to be done, but I still question why now, all of a sudden, the media is playing it up? Why was nothing done years ago when we started seeing these infections, huh??? Maybe if you were a little more literate you would have read my post properly before trying to put me down for what I said. Oh and by the way, the infections I saw were comming from medical facilities as well as home, and if EVERYONE, not just medical providers would use good sanitary practices, the infections would not spread. So Nita, be sure you wash your hands constantly as well or you are no better than the health care workers you are blaming for your infection. The staph lives on your skin, so watch out, you can and will get another infection if YOU do not clean up after YOURSELF!


    Nita Sfarn wrote on November 07, 2007 08:43 PM: I contacted MRSA from a hospital in June 2007. My mother retired from Motion Picture Hospital and never seen it there and of my 8 hospital stays I never heard or caught it until now so I can see way everyone is making a big deal. It is WAY more painful then having a baby or having your Femar break through your hip or even etopic pregnancies which I have experienced all of these before. The comment from the heath care provider in here is terrible. I know that MRSA is from not in cleaning hands tools and in your older medical books it states it found in hospitals and it is not your ordinary staph. The pain ot MRSA is the worst of the taph and most deadly. How many cases did she ever see? My advice would be to stay away from hospital and as far as antibotics I have never taken them more then 10times in my 45 years so to many antibotics is not it. Health care providers CLEAN IT UP!!!!!!!


    Patti Reed wrote on November 07, 2007 06:20 PM: There is four confirmed cases in schools here in Coeur d' Alene.One at my sons school,Lakes Middle School.


    Anony wrote on November 07, 2007 11:48 AM: Stay away from the hospitals, it seems the cases that were back east and mid west were caught from there. Irony the place that is suppose to make you well you catch something and die


    Publius wrote on November 07, 2007 09:00 AM: DJ-
    Somebody probably mused at some media shindig that death from staph infections will eclipse death from HIV infections. Some reporter or exec overheard, made a story out of it, and every other media outlet snatched it up for fear of not reporting in a timely manner.

    Then we have hysteria. A more cynical person might say that something is afoot in the public sector clamoring for more control/power/tax revenue. After all, it's for the children!


    DJ wrote on November 07, 2007 06:55 AM: What I find strange is that I, in the health care profession, have been seeing MRSA infections for many, many years. People have been having these every where, but all of a sudden it is some big story? If they wanted to stop it, they should have been talking about this years ago. Now they are turning it in to some big news story and making it look like some epidemic and that we have to have alerts at school and work because someone has a staph infection.

    I wonder what the real motivation is behind this big media scare they have started.

    I am not saying that the medical profession should not get it under control, I just question why this big media blitz now, all off a sudden, after this has been a widespread problem for many, many years?


    JH wrote on November 07, 2007 06:38 AM: Too many antibiotics have been used. We now have SUPERBUGS!! End of story.


    seth wrote on November 07, 2007 06:06 AM: You have to post 2x to get this to show up


    seth wrote on November 07, 2007 06:06 AM: Ouoting "Taylor said the school wasn't shut down and no additional students or staff at the school were infected."
    And she has a Health district letter stating everyone at that school has been checked to make this statement? What about the people with this that infect there homes, other family members then go off to work. If the health district cares before this becomes epidemic everyone should have to go and have a free test to verify they don't have this.


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