No sense of panic: MRSA staph information session draws tiny crowd at school meeting
By James P. Gannon
An unexpectedly small audience of about a dozen persons showed up in the high school’s big 250-seat auditorium Monday evening to hear two health experts’ advice on dealing with drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA.
Despite the fact that four cases of MRSA have been diagnosed among Rappahannock County public school students and despite widespread media reporting of the scare, only a handful of parents took advantage of the health-information session set up by Superintendent Robert Chappell.
At the outset of the meeting, a disappointed-looking Chappell welcomed the small gathering in the big hall, remarking, “I was expecting possibly standing-room-only tonight.” The few attendees were scattered across the wide front rows amid a sea of empty seats.
Those who showed up were briefed by Dr. David Compton, health director for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Planning District, and April Achter, district epidemiologist for the Virginia Department of Health.
The two officials discussed the history and recent spread of MRSA, which is an infection resistant to common antibiotics and is generally spread by contact, either from person to person or from persons touching infected surfaces, such as desks, chairs, or doorknobs. It is particularly common among school sports teams which feature close physical contact and scrapes and cuts. The infection generally enters the body through open wounds.
Compton said about 20 to 30% of Americans are carriers of staph infection, which most commonly is carried in the lower portion of the nose. He emphasized that MRSA is not a new phenomenon, but was confined mostly in health-care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes until recent years. Now it is more common in the community, particularly in schools.
“It’s been around a long time,” Compton said. “What has brought it to the forefront now is that our kids don’t treat infections like we used to–it’s not ‘cool’” to wear bandages over wounds or wash hands frequently, he said. “There has been a resurgence of MRSA in the teen population” because of these unhealthy habits, he said.
Children tend to ignore sores that may be a symptom of MRSA, thinking they are just insect bites or common itches, and don’t tell their parents about them, he said. “Your kids are going to get staph infections,” Compton said. “But we have to convince our kids to let us know when they have” any symptoms such as a sore that begins to run. Covering such sores with bandages is critical to preventing spread of the infection.
He advised parents to watch their children closely for signs of such sores, and to nag them about frequent hand-washing, which is the best defense to prevent spreading the disease.
In response to audience questions, Compton and Achter made these points:
- It is impossible to know if the four cases of MRSA at the Rappahannock schools are connected to a common cause. “You can no more tell that than you can tell who gave your child strep throat at school,” Compton said.
- MRSA is spread by physical contact and rarely is airborne.
- There generally is no need to quarantine children who have been diagnosed and treated for MRSA.
- It is impossible to eliminate MRSA from the environment. “It is not going away. We have it on us,” Compton said.
Asked if the small turnout for the meeting indicated that MRSA is not such a big concern among parents and students, Compton commented:
“Three or four weeks ago, people were very concerned. But people are trusting the schools to do the right thing,” such as disinfecting classrooms and locker rooms. These actions have alleviated concerns, he indicated.
“It has been in the news so much that people have gotten bombarded by information and they are almost numb,” Compton added.
Judging by Monday evening’s turnout, it appears most of Rappahannock County by now is numb to the MRSA scare.
-- James P. Gannon
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