After a death, NYC schools on guard against staph infections

Posted by Philissa at 6:33 AM

Very sad news from IS 211 in Canarsie, where a student died earlier this month after contracting a particularly vicious form of drug-resistant staph infection that has been spreading in schools across the country. The bacteria is spread through the kind of contact that kids, especially athletes, routinely have, and while most people who are infected recover from the infection, it can kill those with depressed immune system. The state has just issued guidelines for schools to stanch the spread of the bacteria but the best advice is simple: wash your hands and tell your kids to wash theirs frequently, as well. This might be a good time to invest in some bottles of hand sanitizer.

Update: If your child has a wound that is not healing properly, seek medical attention -- the Post says the IS 211 student got the infection from a wound suffered while playing basketball and had what a classmate said were "red and yellow sores ... bad sores" before falling ill. And parents at IS 211 are wondering why it took so long for them to find out about the health issues at the school; the student died Oct. 14 but the school didn't send a letter home until this week.