12th deadly infection in state linked to schools

INDIANAPOLIS – Another case of antibiotic-resistant staph infection has been diagnosed at an Indiana school, boosting the number of school-related cases statewide to at least 12, state health officials said Wednesday.\nA staff member at Northwest High School in Indianapolis was infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, said Indianapolis Public Schools spokeswoman Kim Hooper. Four other cases were reported at four other schools in the district, she said.\nLake Central High School in northern Indiana also reported a case, sending a note home with parents on Tuesday warning that a student had been diagnosed. The school planned disinfections as a precaution.\nTwo students in southern Indiana and two in the Fort Wayne area recently were diagnosed with the staph infections, which are resistant to front-line antibiotics. Two students in Richmond and one in Brown County are said to have been infected with the so-called “superbug.”\nA Marion County Jail inmate also reported having contracted it.\nMRSA does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person.\nThe MRSA strain and other staph infections have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, health and education officials have said.\nThe current rash of cases might be related to the fact that the infections have been in the news, experts said.\n“There’s really not much new,” said Dr. Christopher Belcher, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis. “This has been a problem that’s been increasing in prevalence over the last seven to 10 years and really what’s new here is the public awareness of it.”