All Clear Given At Bucks County High School After Staph Infection Scare
By Dan Wing, Robin Rieger
HOLLAND, Pa. (CBS) -- A Lower Bucks County high school is assuring parents that it's safe for students to resume classes and other activities as normal on Monday after an outbreak of a common skin infection forced the school to cancel a varsity football game on Friday night. That game will now be played Monday night at Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills. (read related story.)
In a statement released on Sunday night, Council Rock School District Superintendent Mark Klein says on Thursday, administrators learned of two confirmed cases of impetigo at Council Rock South High School, one in a soccer player, and one in a football player.
Based on that information, student athletes underwent screenings and 19 players were sent to a physician for further treatment. Six of those students were confirmed to have impetigo, an infection which causes red, pus-filled blisters to form on the skin that are easily spread through contact. But all of the students have been cleared by doctors to return to school.
"All students who have been screened have been cleared by their physician to return to school and compete in athletics," Klein said in a letter to parents.
According to school officials, Council Rock South High School was cleaned and sanitized over the weekend, and the building is safe for students to resume normal activities.
"The team locker room, weight room, and shower facilities have been completely sanitized and will receive extensive cleaning daily over the next several weeks," school principal Al Funk said in a statement. " Aramark will be sanitizing the entire building including the cafeteria."
Klein says impetigo is fairly common in high school athletic programs, and he says in the last two years it has even led to some wrestling matches or practices being cancelled because one or more wrestlers had the infection.
In the statement, the superintendent also says there is a single confirmed case of MRSA at Council Rock South, but school officials don't believe it's related to the outbreak of impetigo. He says school officials don't believe any students or staff at the school are at risk for contacting MRSA by being in the school or any other district facilities.
They say that student has not been to school in over a week.
Student athletes will continue to undergo regular skin checks for suspicious rashes or abrasions by the school staff for the remainder of the school year.
