Story Published:
Oct 30, 2007 at 9:56 AM EST
Story Updated:
Oct 31, 2007 at 11:10 AM EST
The Columbia County Board of Education has confirmed that 12 students have MRSA, the dangerous antibiotic resistant bacteria.
The school system's medical consultant has advised that these students be excluded from school until their lesions are no longer draining and pose no threat to classmates.
"If we're not diligent in what we're going, it could escalate," Superintendent Charles Nagle said.
But to keep that from happening, custodians at Evans High School are hard at work. They're disinfecting desks and doors, fighting an MRSA outbreak.
"I have a child in this school system and if I was really concerned this was a danger, my child wouldn't be in school and I wouldn't either," Evans High School Principal Don Brigdon said.
Brigdon confirms at least two of his students are infected with the drug resistant staph infection.
"In both cases, the parents brought it to us and had taken the right steps and had taken care of it," Brigdon said.
The school system is also hoping to take care of it before it spreads further.
They're delivering a hand and surface sanitizer to every school in the county.
"We want the public to know that we're doing our part to take this very seriously," Nagle said.
Superintendent Charles Nagle says that also means keeping students with open wounds at home, even if they're bandaged.
"We're not looking at this as a punishment. We're looking at it for the protection of their own child as well as keeping this from escalating," Nagle said.
The 12 confirmed cases were found at these Columbia County schools:
Evans High School
Greenbrier High School
Harlem High School
Lakeside High School
Riverside Middle School
Greenbrier Middle School
Grovetown Middle School
Blue Ridge Elementary School
Grovetown Elementary School
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