Link: PoconoRecord.com: Schools work to stave off staph infections.
An outbreak of a tenacious skin-based infection in the Lehigh Valley has coaches and trainers of local sports teams doing their best to keep the same thing from happening in the Poconos.
"We were aware of the outbreak down in Northern Lehigh," said Jake Percey, Pleasant Valley’s athletic director. "We’re trying to do what we think are measures to minimize the chance that we could have the same situation."
Northern Lehigh High School sent out letters Monday that several of its athletes had contracted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and walking pneumonia.MRSA is a strain of bacteria that resists common antibiotics, including methicillin, oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. If left untreated, it can lead to painful swelling, pneumonia, bloodstream infections, or even death.
Trainers and coaches of local school sports teams aren’t taking any chances now that fall practice season is under way.
They are busy scrubbing their hands, washing towels after each use and wiping down training tables, benches, mats and equipment with germicidal cloths.
