Posted on 10/24/2007 3:27:40 AM PDT by Nickname
As concern remains over the presence of an antibiotic-resistant staph infection in Prince William County Public Schools, officials continue efforts to keep parents informed.
"We are trying to stay on top of this," said Irene Cromer, school district spokeswoman.
Three new cases - all students - were confirmed at Glenkirk Elementary School, Saunders Middle School and Rippon Middle School, the school district announced Tuesday.
The total number of cases of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus infection, or MRSA, in Prince William schools is 12.
(Excerpt) Read more at manassasjm.com ...
ping
It’s all over the place here in SE Michigan.
MRSA is a threat. There’s no doubt about it. If you contract the infection, you’ve got a serious problem. I still think the media is doing it’s damndest to pump this up into this years Bird Flu Pandemic level story.
How many millions of kids do we have in schools across this nation? How many cases of MSRA have been confirmed?
Care should be taken to avoid conditions that are favorable to MSRA infections. Beyond that, folks should relax and realize it is very unlikely they will contract MSRA.
About four years ago there was a real panic about flesh eating disease. Within a few months the subject was replaced by some other issue, and you never heard of it again.
I think it’s back now. It will be gone again in a few months. I wish the media would be less sensationalist with regard to these issues, and provide clinical information and suggestions for prudent preventitive measures without doing their damndest to panic the public.
I have grown to hate the leaders for the 11 o’clock news.
“What disease will eat your flesh, cause severe damage to your body or kiil you if you catch it? Tune in at eleven to find out what happend to 12 kids back east, and is spreading across the nation...”
They’ve got it in Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) schools, too.
About 2 or 3 years ago here in Michigan the news all summer long was the dying of birds from West Nile Virus. Flocks of crows were dropping out of the sky, dead birds littered the streets (well, not really).
The next year all was forgotten........
What would we do if we didn't have a crisis or a MSM to perpetuate the illusion of one?
Would you take this attitude if it were a suspected terrorist cell rather than cluserts of MRSA cases?
If you did, you would be wrong. A half-dozen terrorists remains a half-dozen terrorists. A half dozen cases of a communicable disease rapidly exponentiates into a pandemic.
What responsible public health officials due is to track down, isolate, cure and decontaminate every single case that they can find. It is expensive, laborious, and time consuming, requiring intelligence, dedication and dilligence.
But it is an essential component of a scientifically oriented public health operation and is as essential a part of a modern society as is a strategic nuclear deterrent. If you view it as a component of national security, rather than a building block of socialism maybe it will help your attitudue.
Me, I applaud the people doing this work.
There you are right on. This is irresponsible journalism at its worst.
> Beyond that, folks should relax and realize it is very unlikely they will contract MSRA.
Unlikely?
My daughter had it, lost 4 weeks of work because of it, and we had to boil clothing and bedding and scrub the whole house with bleach and lysol.
With 20 illegals in a dwelling in many cases, and the dumbing down in public schools and cost cutting (surface sterilization cleaning - and adding carpet) in many medical facilities, as well as airports and malls....one has to wonder if that is helping the spread?
Health/life BUMP!
I do agree that the MSM is always looking for a panic button to push for news stories but I’m undecided on MRSA myself.
I knew it was an increasing problem in our hospitals, but sick people would be more vulnerable. I’m surprised that so many young, healthy people are being affected to this degree.
Maybe it’s always been infecting people outside the hospital system at this rate and it was just unreported until now. I don’t know.
Your description of the 11:00 news anchors is funny!
This stuff is nothing new. Quite common actually.
There are half the cases here in central Texas than last year. High schools athletes seem to be hit the hardest. Many of the cases reported last year were secondary infections from a spider bite.
I don’t fault the people for doing the work on this. I do fault the media for sensationalizing it.
Using a clinical approach to keep the public informed and protected is advisable. Panicing the public is not.
The flesh eating disease came out of nowhere and was going to kill us all. It not only didn’t, it was a non-issue within months.
We were told we had to have influenze vaccine every year because tens of thousands would die if high risk groups didn’t get it. Then there was an influenza shortage and very few did.
We were told there was a bird flu pandemic and it was going to sweep this nation like the plagues of old. Guess what.
We need to keep things in perspect. That’s all I’m saying.
Trying to panic people for ratings purposes angers me.
I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry
Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I dont have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em all around
We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
Its interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry
You dont really need to find out whats going on
You dont really want to know just how far its gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre stiff
Kick em all around
Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybodys pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When its said and done we havent told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!
And that’s unfortunate. Statisticly speaking though MSRA is rather rare. Out of fifteen million people in the greater Los Angeles area, very few people will contract an MSRA infection this year. I don’t know what the exact figures are, but let’s say 1000 did. That sounds like a lot of people, but out of 15 million it’s next to nothing.
Is it bad when someone comes down with it? Sure. Is it likely that most people are going to? No.
The staph variety of impetaigo has neen a problem forever. I had a bad case when I was a kid.
It goes around in schools but nobody dies.
The MRSA mutant springs from the same base but apparently is hard to control and if it is not contained can be fatal.
I had a close associate who contracted a staph infection while in Johnson City Medical Center (Tennessee) and he never recovered. He was in and out and finally they put him in pretty much isolation in one of their cinics where he just withered away.
It is increasing. And this incident isn’t something to be blown off. It would be wrong to suggest that.
We will probably hear of more cases from time to time, but I don’t think it’s going to turn into an epidemic.
If it does THE we should treat it with a more serious level of grave concern.
Freaking people out now is a waste of time.
Explaining what to look for would be good. Explaining what to do if you think you have it would be good.
How long ago was that Bert? I think there are some fairly decent combination therapies today, but there may be a few strains out there that are impossible to beat down. I honestly don’t know.
Here in Tampa, within the last three weeks, MRSA has been discovered in students at three high schools that I know of. My daughter attends one of the high schools and there has been no public reporting of the MRSA cases at that school.
The main symptom for community MRSA (as opposed to Hospital MRSA) is a skin eruption or rash that won't go away.
Monday evening my wife (who is an elementary school teacher) was bitten by a mosquito. Within minutes of the bite, she developed a rash that spread over her arms, legs and torso. This morning she still had the rash. Right now she's at the doctor's office to have the rash checked. Apparently, it takes several days to get test results confirming an MRSA diagnosis and during those days, the infection can worsen.
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