Is anyone concerned about our children contracting the MRSA Staph infection? It is not an air borne virus or germ. It lays and waits on surfaces. It runs rampede in locker and gym rooms. Just curious what other parents are doing and thinking.

Tina

I am concerned about the spread of MRSA in the schools it is very serious. But I would also like to add that I am a RN and the way that the stories about MRSA are talked about makes it seem as if it is a new infectious disease and it is not. One news cast that I saw was calling it the "new superbug" this caught my attention being in the health profession. When I found out that the story was about MRSA I took a deep breathe. Don't get me wrong it is very serious but I don't want people to cause a panic either. We see a lot of patients with MRSA and have ways of protecting our selves from the infection. I think it is serious and we are seeing it a lot more because their is not a lot of information on this issue in the community. The school systems should take the time to teach parents, teachers and students about reducing the risk for this infectious disease. I don't have children right now but I would feel better knowing that the schools are doing their best to educate and reduce this issue in our schools. I believe that the school nurses should get together and get a presentation together for the school boards and then for everyone else. It is not hard to find information just look on the internet. Please concerned parents push the issue of education and make sure that people find out more about MRSA because if the community is more aware of this, then we as health professional won't see it as much as we do.

I'm concerned about it not only in school, but sports. My kids play football. They are issued their equipment at the beginning of season but sometimes if someone forgets something the coaches let them borrow it from another player without question. I hope they are thinking about it now.

MRSA should be a big concern everywhere. Most people are not going to come down with the fatal kind, but even the MRSA infection in a wound as opposed to the bloodstream, is not fun. I know I recently had what I thought was a spider bite, that within a few hours went from the size of a quarter to the size of a baseball. It never drained, I had no previous wound and that was all I could think it was. Ended up it was MRSA. Had to take antibiotics (which made me nauseated) and use Bactoban ointment in my nose, because apparently it was growing there too. Scary. If I had waited to seek medical attention, it could have invaded the bloodstream. As a medical professional, I am meticulous about handwashing, etc and have no idea how I could have contracted it. It could be on the buggies at Wal-Mart for all I know. Yvonne, I would suggest talking to the coaches about sharing equipment-not only for the MRSA, but you have ringworm and headlice to worry about too. If this is school football as opposed to park ball, I would talk to the school nurse to. Perhaps they could do some education of the staff/students. Do parents have the option to purchase their own equipment? I know when my girls played softball, I didn't let them share helmets. I usually had an extra (my husband coached and I was Team Mom), so we would loan that one and then disinfect it every time.

There is a posting on http://www.foxnews.com today about this very subject. Shaking hands with people is certainly a source of spreading germs. Lets learn to wave instead.