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Health Alert: Virginia Super Bug Death Closes Virgina Schools - US Researchers Report Sharp Rise in Drug Resistant Infection Deaths - CALL FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLIC AWARENESS

Virginia School District Closes - Entire School Disinfected "I can confirm that there was a Prince County high school student, within the last two weeks, that had MRSA," said Lucy Caldwell, Northern Virginia regional spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of HealthWarning letters sent home to parents in Weston, CT, Rome, NY

About the MRSA Bug...finding its way into the school system Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a type of staph that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems but is now making its way into the nation's school system. Staph or MRSA infections in the community are usually manifested as skin infections, such as pimples and boils, and occur in otherwise healthy people.Hygiene steps to help prevent infection...Practice good hygiene:

Keep hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.

Avoid contact with other people's wounds or bandages.

Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors.

Research Update - U.S. researchers have estimated that nearly 19,000 people in the United States died in 2005 after being infected with a drug-resistant bacteria.

The findings appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led the study.Researchers looked at nearly 9,000 cases of the infection and 1,600 in-hospital deaths among patients infected with the bacteria called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. They estimate that more than 94,000 people in the United States were infected with the bacteria in 2005, and that those infections were associated with 18,650 deaths. They say most of the infections were related to health care treatment facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes. But the researchers say they surveyed largely urban areas and that the number of cases of invasive MRSA may be overestimated. They also caution that it is possible that the bacteria may not have caused or contributed to some of the deaths.