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Joselita · 10-26-2007, 08:05 PM

We are having an “outbreak”, for lack of a better word, down here in Alabama too. 7 different schools in 3 different counties (Jefferson, Shelby, & St. Clair) have reported having students dx’ed with staph (of varying numbers. Most of these schools only have one student dx’ed with staph, but there was one that has something like 3? I will watch news and make sure of that figure tonight, since that is ALL that they are talking about on the Birmingham [which is in Jefferson County] stations). I don’t know how these things vary from State to State, but on our news, they are saying that the schools aren’t required to notify parents when another student has been dx’ed with Staph. They are also saying that the numbers of students being dx’ed with staph IS NOT abnormal....although I haven’t ever heard of it like this, while my kids were still in school.

Desi.....please try not to panic. Staph can’t do anything, unless it gets UNDER the skin...as in getting into a cut or scrape or such. Just try to make sure that your daughter understands that it is SUPER important for her to wash her hands! You said she is 7, right? Maybe that is old enough for her to be a “Bigger Girl” (a term that my daughter LOVED to use when she was small. LOL) and start carrying her own purse? If she has a purse, then you could make sure to tuck some hand sanitizer into it, and tell her to use it, and use it often, ON TOP Of washing her hands.

The school should be implementing some sort of plan to sanitize the school. The ones here that have reported any problems, have had gone through and cleaned EVERYTHING! There is even one, that does have a student that has been infected with the MRSA strain...(he just didn’t get it from the school campus)...that has this special thing that they use twice a week to sanitize the whole fieldhouse/locker room area, ON TOP of a special cleaning schedule. They already had this in place BEFORE This student got exposed to MRSA from somewhere else. I know that this school I am talking about is a High School (they have said that Staph is something that High School athletes have to be on guard about, because of the contact they have...like in football, and such), and your daughter is in Elementary school....but there ARE things that the school can do...and that I am sure that they will. If that letter doesn’t say what they are planning to do to try to get the Staph out of the school, then call and ask them! I would.

I would hope that they would be using this weekend to clean up the school...since no kids will be there, and it will be a prime opportunity to get everything sanitized and nice and disinfected for the new school week to start on Monday.....and to be able to set lots of concerned and scared parents minds at rest. I do hope that the child that is infected is able to get rid of the infection.....and that no drastic measure had to be taken in order for that to happen. MRSA is one of the more resistant strains of staph, but there are ways that they can treat it. It is just harder to do so.

But, about the only other thing that you can do to try to protect your daughter is to just reinforce the importance of washing her hands, and keeping herself clean. The stuff can’t do anything while it is on the skin....so making sure that it gets washed off is the best line of defense. You know? I am sure that nothing will help to set your mind to rest until you can go over her entire self with a fine tooth comb (if you haven’t already), and make sure she doesn’t have any “owies”. LOL, I probably would have freaked and strip searched my kid([s] since they were usually in he same school at the same time, what with their being only 16 months apart in age) while trying to dunk them in a bath tub at the same time, probably AS SOON as I got finished reading that letter! So, I know that it is much easier for me to sit here and say “be calm....I am sure that everything is alright”, than it is to actually be on the receiving end of that advice. ((((Hugs))))

I am sure that she will be ok. Just try to remain calm, and explain to her the best that you can what has gone on. She doesn’t need to be afraid...just cautious and smart (which I am sure she is!). Besides, you never know; you might find out that she knows more about this than you think...

Please let us know what you find out about how your school intends on dealing with this problem. Hopefully, like I said, they will ALREADY have folks out there, cleaning everything up as we speak. I am sending you lots of good thoughts and prayers, because I know how upset and scared you must be, to get a letter like that out of the blue. More (((((Hugs)))))) too.

I don’t know what I think about the news people saying that this isn’t an “problem”....when so many schools, from so many places seem to be having the same thing going on? Like I said, I don’t remember this being an issue when my kids were still in school, let alone when I was. Maybe they are just reporting it more now? I don’t know. Hopefully all of these schools that have reported this problem will do whatever it takes to get cleaned up, and stay that way. They can’t be responsible for what kids carry into the schools, but they can try to do whatever they can to make sure that it doesn’t get spread around once it is at the school. If that made sense. I hope you know what I meant. Please let us know what you find out. I understand how scared & worried you must be.

Love and ((Hugs))
Jose