Oct 20, 2007 6:05 am US/Eastern
Iona College Reports 10 Cases Of Staph Infection
Outbreak At New Rochelle School 'Under Control'
WHITE PLAINS (AP) ―
Ten cases of an antibiotic-resistant staph infection have been confirmed among members of an athletic team at Iona College, the Westchester County health commissioner said Friday.
One student athlete was hospitalized but had already been released, said the commissioner, Dr. Joshua Lipsman. He said the outbreak was "under control." Cecelia Donohoe, a spokeswoman at Iona, said all the cases had been caught early and were mild, "a pimple or a boil."
Staph infections, including the serious Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, according to health and education officials. A high school senior in Virginia died of the disease on Monday, his mother said.
Lipsman confirmed in an interview that the Iona cases were MRSA, which does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. He called the disease "an emerging health threat."
The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound.
The cases at Iona began last month, and two of the 10 had previously been reported. The total includes nine students and one coach, Lipsman said.
The commissioner said Iona, in New Rochelle, was dealing properly with the infection. He and Donohoe said team members with open wounds have been forbidden to play, the weight room had been disinfected and all students have been advised about proper hygiene, such as not sharing razors or towels and "scrupulous" hand washing.
Donohoe would not say which Iona team was affected, citing privacy concerns. Lipsman said all the victims were men.
Lipsman said county health officials would be meeting with Iona officials next week to review the cases and any other measures that should be taken. He said the last confirmed case was a week old, "but because it is an emerging health threat, and there aren't a lot of good statistics yet, we can't say for sure whether that case last week will be the last or they might have a few more."
The commissioner said at a news conference that the Health Department would step up its surveillance by asking hospitals, doctors and colleges to tell it about any MRSA cases, although that is not required by law, "so that we can see if there's any kind of a pattern."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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