Fairfield has been taking a number of precautions in an attempt to avoid being hit with an outbreak of the new antibiotic-resistant variety of staph infection.
The action comes after numerous other schools have been afflicted with the affliction.
The most recent of these facilities of higher education was Iona College, which suffered a small epidemic.
Ten people, including nine athletes and one coach, were quarantined after being infected with the ‘superbug’ Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), according to a FOX News report.
Read more about this on WebMD.com
The Health Center has been in contact with town of Fairfield officials on this matter. In a memo from Ann Clark, superintendent of Fairfield public schools, she addressed this particular strand of bacteria.
Symptoms often include skin lesions that appear to be pimples or boils.
Actual infection is most frequently transmitted via direct skin-to-skin contact, such as touching.
According to Health Center Director Gary Nelson, the Health Center is currently working on preparing an advisory for Fairfield students.
Fairfield College Preparatory High School has already sent out a letter of its own for concerned parents. This correspondence urged simple preventive measures.
“There are basic precautions we all should take to prevent transmission of any bacteria,” the document read.
Custodial staffers at Fairfield University and Prep are currently making extra efforts to ensure the cleanliness of lavatory and locker room facilities.
Both schools have also urged constant vigilance in the realms of essential hygiene, first aid and laundry, especially among athletes.
MRSA is widely believed to have developed as the result of a much more common bacteria evolving the ability to withstand beta-lactam antibiotics, the most common variety of germ-killing drugs.
Nearly 19,000 Americans died from complications related to MRSA in 2005, a high number than from AIDS-related deaths in the same year, according to a Chicago Tribune article.
Some students, such as biology major Lauren Zaremba ’08, said they are not at all surprised about the spread of MRSA but concerned nonetheless.
“I knew something like this would eventually happen,” she said. “People are prone to staph infections, it’s why you’re supposed to stay clean.”
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