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Springfield school district had denied rumors in letter; student in serious condition
By Jim Carney Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Nov 03, 2007
A 16-year-old Springfield High School junior remained in serious condition Friday in the intensive-care unit of Akron Children's Hospital with a drug-resistant staph infection.
Michael Forester of Lakemore was hospitalized Oct. 24 and was to undergo surgery Friday, said his mother, Mary Baxter.
''The more prayers I can get, the better,'' Baxter said Friday at the hospital.
On Wednesday, Springfield School Superintendent William Stauffer, in a letter sent to parents, acknowledged that a student had become ill and was admitted to the hospital.
The superintendent said rumors that the student has a contagious disease that puts other students at risk and that the high school has an ongoing problem with staph infections are not true.
Stauffer could not be reached for comment Friday.
Baxter said her son suffers from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a type of bacteria that is resistant to some antibiotics.
MRSA is the same type of infection that recently killed a Virginia teen.
Baxter said her son's first symptoms
were stomach flu and an extremely high temperature. Later, she said, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and finally MRSA.
She urged parents to know what precautions to take to stop the spread of staph infections like the one her son has contracted ''so they are not in my position.''
Baxter said she and her son's doctors have no idea how he developed the infection.
''I've been told you can get it anywhere,'' she said.
And she pleaded with parents to encourage their children to wash their hands often.
Dr. Blaise Congeni, director of infectious diseases at Akron Children's Hospital, said new strains of MRSA are ''likely resistant to conventional antibiotics.''
While 99 percent of MRSA cases are mild, local skin infections or boils, about 1 percent are more virulent strains, Congeni said.
He said the public is not getting the correct information that the vast majority of MRSA cases are managed and treated with antibiotics.
Congeni said people have the idea that if someone is diagnosed with MRSA, it must be the most critical type of case.
''They are only hearing the virulence part,'' he said. ''They are not hearing the part that it tends to be skin infections. They tend to recur and they are easily managed.''
Because of that, people are ''very frightened.''
Overuse of antibiotics is a big issue in MRSA cases, he said.
Congeni advised parents to teach their children to cover open cuts and draining wounds, and to use good hygiene and avoid sharing towels, toothbrushes or other personal items.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, other factors that can contribute to so-called community-acquired MRSA are close skin-to-skin contact, openings in the skin such as cuts or abrasions, contaminated items and surfaces, crowded living conditions and poor hygiene.
Kristopher Weiss, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health, said MRSA cases are reportable to the state health department only when there is an outbreak that involves two or more cases linked by person-to-person spread or linked epidemiologically to something like a piece of workout equipment, a sports team or a tattooing machine.
Baxter said her son wants to work either in real estate or in construction with his father, Raymond Baxter, when he finishes high school in 2009.
She said she is aware of the death in Virginia and she hopes Michael's case will result in ''a good ending.''
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
A 16-year-old Springfield High School junior remained in serious condition Friday in the intensive-care unit of Akron Children's Hospital with a drug-resistant staph infection.
Get the full article here.
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