MRSA Notes

From Oregon, Worldlink.com:

“This past year there has been a tremendous increase in the number of boils, abscesses, and hair follicle infections that my colleagues and I have needed to treat.”

That was the first sentence of a memo Dr. Jon Yost, a pediatrician at Bay Clinic, sent to principals, athletic directors, coaches and nurses in the Coos Bay School District. But Yost wasn’t trying to scare anyone. Rather, he wants school officials’ help, because more and more MRSA cases are afflicting young people in the community, and those cases are preventable.

Learn the ABCs “It’s basically good hygiene,” Yost said. Wash your hands with hot water and lather up with lots of soap bubbles. Clean skin wounds and keep them covered. Don’t share towels and clothes. Keep athletic equipment clean. That message also needs to get to students, particularly kids in contact sports such as wrestling. At Marshfield High School, wrestling coach Randy Messner said coaches statewide have become very vigilant about preventing staph infections and even parasites such as ringworm over the past several years. “It was really bad five or six years ago,” he said.

While neither Messner nor MHS Athletic Director Greg Mulkey recalled seeing the district’s memo, they said Yost’s recommended hygiene practices already are in place. Towels are washed after each practice and the kids themselves disinfect the mats twice daily.

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