EDMONDS — Holy Rosary School in Edmonds closed Wednesday for three days after a report that a third-grade student had been diagnosed with a staph infection resistant to antibiotics.
Although the school learned late Wednesday afternoon that the student probably did not have an infection of MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, officials are waiting to hear from a local doctor on whether another student, this one in the second grade, may have it.
Regardless, the private Catholic school, with 266 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, will remain closed for three days to allow a professional cleaning company to sanitize the school.
“It was my call to close the school,” said the Rev. Kenneth Haydock, pastor of Holy Rosary Church, which runs the school. “My concern for the children was paramount.”
Even after learning that the first student probably does have a staph infection but does not have MRSA.
“If I had to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing,” Haydock said. “I think parents will be comforted by the fact that we took the precaution of cleaning everything.”
The cleanup is expected to cost about $20,000. “Everything is being scrubbed from stem to stern,” Haydock said.
It is thought to be the first school in the county to close because of a scare over a MRSA infection.
School officials initially decided to close down for three days when parents notified them on Tuesday that their daughter had been infected with MRSA. It is a type of staph infection that is resistant to some antibiotics.
The student is recovering at home, Haydock said.
Parents were told of the decision to temporarily close the school by e-mail on Tuesday.
The school is expected to reopen on Nov. 13 since it had previously scheduled a vacation day on Monday for Veterans Day.
Health officials stress that MRSA is a common infection, and usually not life-threatening.
“A lot of attention is paid to dramatic cases of MRSA,” said Suzanne Pate, spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District. “While some deaths have been reported nationally, it’s relatively rare for even severe infections to become fatal.”
MRSA skin infections are often transmitted by skin-to-skin contact or contact with surfaces that have come into contact with someone else’s infection, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Careful hand washing and not sharing personal items, such as towels and razors, can help prevent spread of the infection.
MRSA cases have received intense national publicity over the last month, following the death of a seventh-grader from Brooklyn, N.Y.
One county in southern Virginia closed 21 schools after the bacterial infection killed a 17-year-old high school student.
A handful of cases of students with MRSA infections have been reported in Washington, including two in Tumwater and one high school student in Port Townsend.
Another high school student in Port Townsend was thought to have a MRSA infection, but it was not confirmed, said Jean Baldwin, director of Jefferson County Public Health. Officials learned of both cases last week.
“They’re back in school; they’re fine, they’ve completely recovered,” Baldwin said.
Public health agencies do not track the number of confirmed MRSA infections. However, it is becoming an increasingly common infection.
Tests by The Everett Clinic show that of the 350 people with staph infections in 2001, about 14 percent had the MRSA strain. That rose to nearly half of the 2,937 staph infections diagnosed by its clinics last year.
In addition to skin infections, MRSA can occasionally spread to the bloodstream or cause pneumonia and bone infections.
Dr. Roger Case, Island County’s health officer, noted that MRSA “has been around for years” but most people do not become seriously ill.
“The big thing is to play down the scare,” he said. Disinfecting public facilities “is not the way to address curtailing the spread of an organism like this.”
“This is about person-to-person transfer,” he said. Personal sanitation, such as careful hand washing, “is the thing that we’re most concerned about.”
The Snohomish Health District has sent a note to school nurses with information on MRSA, when to exclude a student from activities, and guidance on when to report cases to the public health agency.
On Monday, Carol Whitehead, superintendent of the Everett School District, sent a note to staff regarding MRSA. “I believe that we must treat this health issue in a share, not scare mode,” the note said.
“Your calm and rational responses to questions … will go a long way to ease fears” and encourage students and families to take personal health precautions, it said.
The school district is also sending out a note to parents saying that teachers are emphasizing the importance of careful hand washing to help stop the spread of infection.
The school district’s gyms and locker rooms will be frequently closed for cleaning.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
