Richmond superintendent urges calm

A school superintendent in eastern Georgia says staff members and medical personnel are doing everything they can to prevent students, teachers and employees from getting staph infection. But he's urging the public not to panic.

Richmond County's superintendent, Dana Bedden, said in a news conference today that officials are disinfecting schools. They're also repeatedly teaching children about personal hygiene.

Bedden told reporters in Augusta that many parents have called his office, worried their children might get a deadly disease. But he stressed that the staph, called MRSA, is very treatable.

"We've got some overreaction here," said Bedden. "People are treating people like they've got the plague. No child, no person, needs to be treated in that manner. It is treatable. It is manageable if people follow the instructions that are given by the health officials."

Bedden announced that an elementary school student is the fourth person in the Richmond County school system to have MRSA.

Officials in nearby Columbia County say 12 students there have had the infection.