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Staph Infections Reported at Schools Across the Country
The New York Times ^ | October 17, 2007

Posted on 10/18/2007 6:09:41 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued

A high school student hospitalized for more than a week with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection died on Monday, as schools across the country were reporting outbreaks of staph infections, including the antibiotic-resistant strain.

The student, Ashton Bonds, 17, was a senior at Staunton River High School in Moneta, Va., and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, was diagnosed in him, his mother said.

Officials shut down all 22 schools in Bedford County for cleaning today in an effort to keep the illness from spreading, after students at Staunton River organized a protest overnight Monday, using text messages and social networking sites. On Tuesday, the student organizers led the Bedford County schools superintendent, James Blevins, on a tour of the Staunton River school to show him the state of its sanitation, particularly in its locker rooms.

Mr. Blevins said at a news conference today that the high school would be cleaned today by a commercial cleaning company, and the county’s 21 other schools would be cleaned by their janitors.

Health and education officials have reported that staph infections, including the serious MRSA strain, have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: health; medicine; mrsa; outbreak; publichealth; publicschools; publikskoolz; stahincfections
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1 posted on 10/18/2007 6:09:42 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
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To: metmom; Tired of Taxes; Aquinasfan; little jeremiah

Now THIS is a deadly serious reason to homeschool.


2 posted on 10/18/2007 6:11:02 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued (You can't be serious about national security unless you're serious about border security)
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To: Clintonfatigued

This is starting to be of more than academic concern (no pun intended — deadly serious).


3 posted on 10/18/2007 6:15:10 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture ™)
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To: Clintonfatigued

It might be one good reason, though the infections are widespread enough that home educated children are also at risk; just not as exposed as when they mingle in public schools.

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353157755

Thursday, October 18, 2007
6 staph cases confirmed
Athletes at East Forsyth found to have drug-resistant infections

By Laura Giovanelli
JOURNAL REPORTER

- - - - - - - -

Athletes, particularly those who participate in sports that require close contact such as wrestling, are more likely to catch staph infections.

People who have uncovered cuts or scrapes, poor hygiene and live in crowded conditions are also more susceptible, according to the CDC.

It is generally hard to find statistics about MRSA. The infection that it causes is a communicable disease but it is not a disease that local health departments are required to keep numbers on and report to the state.

North Carolina hospitals aren’t required to disclose their infection rates, although that will soon change. A law passed this year sets up an advisory commission that will help prepare hospitals and other facilities to collect and make infection rates public.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week was one of the first to show how widespread the fierce bacterium has become. Researchers took samples from people who visited 11 emergency rooms for a skin or tissue infection. Their work showed that MRSA was the cause 59 percent of the time.


4 posted on 10/18/2007 6:16:14 PM PDT by Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek
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To: Clintonfatigued

It’s getting to where there just isn’t any good reason to send a child to public schools.


5 posted on 10/18/2007 6:17:00 PM PDT by alicewonders (Duncan Hunter needs to be our next Secretary of Defense.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

AQ has strongly hinted that the next wave of terrorist attacks will target schools.

A biological agent deliberately introduced???


6 posted on 10/18/2007 6:17:59 PM PDT by lightman (The Office of the Keys should be exercised as some ministry needs to be Exorcised.)
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To: lightman

More a result of antibacterial soaps. They kill the germs that fight the MRSA


7 posted on 10/18/2007 6:19:09 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: AppyPappy
More a result of antibacterial soaps. They kill the germs that fight the MRSA

Don't forget improper use of antibiotics.

8 posted on 10/18/2007 6:28:28 PM PDT by Dianna
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To: AppyPappy
"More a result of antibacterial soaps."

Scientist: Your overuse of antibacterial soap has resulted in your daughter getting MRSA.

Typical overprotective soccer mom: But my daughter needs to protect herself from all those nasty bacteria.

Scientist: You killed all the good bacteria, and now the bad bacteria are taking over.

Typical overprotective soccer mom: Well in that case I'll make sure she uses the antibacterial soap more often!

9 posted on 10/18/2007 6:28:45 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: lightman
AQ has strongly hinted that the next wave of terrorist attacks will target schools. A biological agent deliberately introduced???

I don't think so because this problem has been around for years and gradually became more prevalent. It may be going parabolic now. A deadly microorganism with an incidence parabolically growing is not something to sneeze at.

10 posted on 10/18/2007 6:34:54 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture ™)
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To: Clintonfatigued
Hospitals clean and clean and clean - with powerful chemicals -and yet they are rife with staph = I question that cleaning by commercial companies or janitors will do the trick.

This bug can’t be killed by most antibiotics - I doubt regular cleaning supplies will do much good. People need to educate themselves and learn and practice preventive medicine

11 posted on 10/18/2007 6:46:07 PM PDT by maine-iac7 ("...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time" LINCOLN)
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To: steve86

What does going parabolic mean? Does it mean growing exponentially? This one scares me more than the over-hyped bird flu and anthrax threats.


12 posted on 10/18/2007 6:46:10 PM PDT by Betty Jane
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To: Clintonfatigued

Savage was going on about this, with a CA ER nurse the other day.

He was saying all this MRSA is coming with these illegal immigrants being there is no Ellis Island anymore, and they are infecting our ER’s because they use them for first care.

When we used to monitor our immigrants, we didn’t let in the ones that carried diseases. Now everything is pouring across the borders.


13 posted on 10/18/2007 6:48:46 PM PDT by I still care ("Remember... for it is the doom of men that they forget" - Merlin, from Excalibur)
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To: Clintonfatigued

I think the pont we are missing here is how these kids have become susceptable to this in the first place.

Could it be from over-prescribing antibiotics for colds and sore throats??

Could it be from not finishing all of the medication when an antibiotic is medically necessary and called for??

Could it be from a lack of basic sanitary habits as simple as hand washing that spreads staph all over the place, and not just at the public schools?

Could it be all of the above instead of some mysterious new deadly mutant germ??

Just asyin’...


14 posted on 10/18/2007 6:56:26 PM PDT by Bean Counter (Stout Hearts...)
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To: abclily; aberaussie; albertp; AliVeritas; Amelia; AnAmericanMother; andie74; AVNevis; bannie; ...

Public School Ping

This list is for articles relating to public schools. mcvey and republican professor have asked me to take over the list. If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
15 posted on 10/18/2007 7:07:50 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

“...have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks.”

Run down of the states are: Virgina, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.

Most are isolated single schools, Virgina and Ohio had multiple schools.

I am very surprised that California is not mentioned. I know of no cases in the schools here, but expected it.


16 posted on 10/18/2007 7:10:41 PM PDT by TruthConquers (Delendae sunt publici scholae)
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To: DaveLoneRanger; 2Jedismom; aberaussie; Aggie Mama; agrace; Antoninus; arbooz; bboop; bill1952; ...

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles. This is becoming a fairly high volume list.
17 posted on 10/18/2007 7:10:45 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Am I the only one “paranoid” enough to find this

MUCH MORE THAN A LITTLE ODD?

All of a sudden, we have an epidemic?

Why? Where from?

Have the little globalist puppet masters in the bio warfare labs been working overtime . . . only to have fun with our children???

Sorry but I don’t trust anyone on such matters any more in today’s context.

The globalists ARE THAT EVIL.


18 posted on 10/18/2007 7:13:56 PM PDT by Quix (GOD ALONE IS GOD; WORTHY; PAID THE PRICE; IS COMING AGAIN; KNOWS ALL; IS LOVING; IS ALTOGETHER GOOD)
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To: Clintonfatigued
Without any evidence, I blame this on Purel. Purel claims to kill 99.9% of bacteria. The 0.1% of bacteria that are left have to be pretty tough bugs. Run a few hundred experiments like this, and at the end you're going to be left with killer bacteria.

Of course these bugs might only be Purel-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (PRSA), not Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA).

19 posted on 10/18/2007 7:16:11 PM PDT by AZLiberty (President Fred -- I like the sound of it.)
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To: TruthConquers

The Mt. Lebanon School District, near Pittsburgh, was reporting 10 athletes (football players) infected. This was the largest grouping (in my area) but there have been sporadic reports (various districts) as well. This is much, much more wide spread than being reported (HIPAA).


20 posted on 10/18/2007 7:17:46 PM PDT by PennsylvaniaMom (I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them. Jane Austen.)
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