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.

Columbia County schools with staph

Here's a list of the schools in Columbia County where students have reported having Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), also known as staph infection:

High schools

Evans (2 cases)
Greenbrier (2)
Harlem (1)
Lakeside (1)

Middle schools

Greenbrier (1)
Grovetown (1)
Riverside (1)

Elementary schools

Blue Ridge (1)
Grovetown (1)

For more information about staph infections in Columbia County and how to protect students, visit the school board website at www.ccboe.net . For more information about MRSA, go to www.cdc.gov.

11 staph infections in Columbia County

School officials in eastern Georgia are reporting that 11 students have staph infections. Officials in the Columbia County school system say the students are at nine schools -- elementary, middle and high schools. They say none of the cases are related. The students all have Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an infection resistant to commonly used antibiotics, such as penicillin, but treatable with other antibiotics. The students' infections are also all on their skin, and not considered life-threatening. Reports of the diagnoses have come into the school system over the last two weeks. The Centers for Disease Control typically does not recommend isolation for MRSA, but school officials in Columbia County are requiring students to stay home until their lesions stop oozing. "We want to err on the side of caution," said Dr. Sandra Carraway, a deputy schools superintendent. She says parents and students, though, shouldn't panic, but they should take precautions. "They can help us by encouraging their children not to share their personal items, to wash their p.e. clothes daily, to keep their hands washed, and if they have a wound, just to monitor it to make sure it's healing properly. School officials say they've sanitized classrooms and other areas where the students might have been. For more information, go to www.ccboe.net or www.cdc.gov.