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There’s been a small outbreak of this infectious skin problem at Antonian College Preparatory High School, and eight football players have been diagnosed with the disease.
Eighty players make up the Fighting Apaches this year, and the team is ready to do battle with its first opponent of the season on Sept. 8.
However, the team has also been battling MRSA, a staph infection that often enters the body through cuts and small wounds.
"They get scrapes on their elbows and on their knees, and they don’t clean them and they don’t clean them, and they don’t bandage them up and they leave them open," said Don Nelson, the head coach at Antonian.
If left untreated, a staph infection can lead to some serious problems. One student did have to be hospitalized briefly, but all players are back on the field for now. The school’s athletic department sprays a special anti-bacterial cleaner in the locker room on a daily basis, and parents have been alerted to the problem by e-mail, letters and on the school’s Web site.
