A Laytonsville Elementary School student was hospitalized with a virulent strain of a staph infection, Montgomery County Public Schools officials said Thursday, heightening concerns the antibiotic-resistant malady may continue its spread.
The case marks the 14th diagnosis of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infection that has been reported to county health and school officials since August and the third to occur among elementary-age children this month. School districts in Northern Virginia have reported 15 cases; Prince George’s has reported none.
Laytonsville Parents and Teachers Association President Kathy Lloyd said she was notified about the infection by Principal Hillarie Rooney.She declined to identify the student and did not know whether the child was still in the hospital Thursday evening. She said a letter was sent home with students Wednesday.
“The school has been cleaned with bleach, and the kids are getting their hands squirted with anti-bacterial lotion everywhere they go,” Lloyd said. “Of course, we’re trying to make it a one-child case.”
Brian Edwards, chief of staff to Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, said Laytonsville was cleaned with a bleach solution Wednesday night.
The rapid expansion of the superbug into at least eight of the county’s schools took on frightening proportions Monday after the death of a southern Virginia high school senior who had been hospitalized with the infection for a week.
It has also bewildered education officials, who say there is no geographic pattern to the infections and that there are few precautions other than practicing better hygiene.
In addition to the three elementary students, 11 Montgomery high schoolers have been infected. Most of those cases were confined among student athletes who may have picked up the infection by using contaminated equipment or in locker rooms.
Sherwood High School has seen the worst, with six students affected in August, including one who was infected twice, Edwards said.
But school officials can only guess why an infection that appears to take root mainly in hospital settings or in musty gyms has spread to elementary schools.
“These cases are coming to us from the community,” Edwards said. “Most of these cases are not contracted in the schools. The school system is dealing with it.”
As the number of cases appeared to be rising Thursday, the county health department issued a reminder to local gyms, schools and swimming pools to keep facilities sanitized. Residents are being told to keep any cuts bandaged or covered and to wash their handsfrequently.
Lloyd said she told her children to visit a school health official during the day if they receive a cut.
“I didn’t want them to be fearful either,” Lloyd said.
