MRSA Wages War on Schools and Students

What is MRSA?

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, shortened to the acronym MRSA (pronounced “Mer-sa”), has been increasing in number for decades, and has recently mounted a full scale assault on our educational system. MRSA, as the name implies, is a Staph bacterium that has mutated to build up a resistance to methicillin and other common antibiotics including penicillin and amoxicillin. Originally discovered in hospitals and sometimes called hospital-acquired MRSA, healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) would invade patients that had come to the hospital for an illness or injury. Now it is known to attack wherever groups of sick or injured people with weakened immune systems may be found, namely nursing homes, same-day surgery centers, and dialysis centers.

H1N1 in your schools – the best prevention and protection

Your students’ health is a big deal to you, and it should be a big deal to your school. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has said that possibly 30,000 to 90,000 deaths, mostly among young children and young adults, could occur within the year. Up to as many as 300,000 may even need intensive care treatment at hospitals. Since the virus was first discovered during the spring, over 100 countries have been introduced to the H1N1 virus causing the classification of PANDEMIC. Vaccines are now available, but are they your only defense?