n Oxford Middle School seventh-grade boy was diagnosed last week with a bacterial infection that’s highly resistant to some antibiotics, but he’s reported to be back in school and doing just fine.
‘Everything’s pretty much clear,? said OMS Principal Ken Weaver, who noted the student was treated and allowed to return to classes on Monday.
On Friday morning, the student’s parents informed OMS officials their son was infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
MRSA is a type of staph bacteria that causes skin infections that can’t be treated with certain antibiotics. It’s sometimes mistaken for a spider bite. Symptoms range from minor to serious, including skin redness and swelling, pimple-like red bumps, boils, rash, fever, headache, and malaise.
Infections can spread quickly to other parts of the body or to other people. MRSA usually spreads from person to person through hands or close, skin-to-skin contact. It can live on the skin and survive on some surfaces for prolonged periods of time.
MRSA is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it and it can be fatal, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
Because the student is a member of the OMS football team, as a precaution, the school’s male and female athletes and physical ed. students had their belongings from each locker room packed up and taken home for cleaning.
Both locker rooms were ‘thoroughly disinfected? by the school’s custodial staff as were all the school’s classrooms and common areas, according to Weaver.
‘We did cancel some (sports) practices on Friday, just to keep the locker rooms clear,? he noted. The student in question doesn’t ride the bus to and from school, however, the buses he may have ridden to sporting events were disinfected.