LONDONDERRY — Londonderry High School's wrestling room was disinfected and reopened yesterday, a day after a middle school student on the team was diagnosed with a communicable staph infection known as MRSA.
The high school was affected because middle school students use the high school wrestling room for practice, School Superintendent Nate Greenberg said.
No other school's students were at risk because the middle school wrestlers have not had any matches yet. A letter was sent home to parents to notify them about the situation, Greenberg said.
Before Thanksgiving, a school nurse noticed that the student in question had symptoms that could have indicated a staph infection, he said. The nurse notified the student's mother and asked her to take the child to the doctor. The mother reported the diagnosis was MRSA on Monday morning, Greenberg said.
The school washed all the mats with a disinfectant effective against MRSA - pronounced "mersa" - and other bacteria, Greenberg said. The solution, called Product Central 103 HBV Disinfectant, is the same one used to clean the wrestling room every day.
MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a skin infection that is treatable, common and often "very mild," according to Christine Adamski, disease control chief for the state Department of Health and Human Services. But if left untreated, a severe case of MRSA could be life-threatening, she said.
"Like any infection, it can progress and become more severe," she said, but that's not typical. People catch MRSA through skin contact, so good hygiene is the key to prevention, Adamski said. That means washing hands frequently, showering after playing sports, and not sharing towels or razors.
New Hampshire does not track MRSA cases. MRSA is not a reportable disease, such as meningitis. State health officials typically would become involved if a cluster or outbreak of MRSA occurred. So far, New Hampshire has not seen an outbreak, and reports of clusters have proved unfounded, she said.
Londonderry school officials are focusing on sticking to the regular cleaning routine and talking to students about prevention.
"It's the kind of thing that's almost impossible to make a determination about where he picked it up," Greenberg said. "It could have been from clothing, contact with another student, or it could have happened outside of school.
Howard Sobolov, the district's athletic director, said school officials have already spoken to the athletes about the importance of showering after practice and games, but the coaches will reiterate the message about good hygiene.
Although there is no evidence the student contracted MRSA in the wrestling room, school officials are determined to protect the students' health and are taking every precaution, he said,
"We put together a very good comprehensive review of our facilities and the way we treat the facilities, especially the wrestling room ," he said. The review included the product used to clean and the amounts applied.
