Staph germ hospitalizes dorm resident

A university student has been hospitalized with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, officials said yesterday, indicating health concerns that have shaken the surrounding community may have crept onto the campus.

Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement said the student was diagnosed yesterday evening, though the student has been in the hospital for several days.

She would not disclose any identifying information about the student, such as gender or class standing, and did not know whether the student contracted the infection on the campus.

"The only information we have is that the student is responding to treatment," Clement said.

Outbreaks of the infection have been reported over the past week in Maryland and Virginia, where many high school students have contracted the infection. One student in Southern Virginia died from a staph infection, according to reports.

Between 25 and 30 percent of people carry Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as staph, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A smaller proportion of the population contracts a staph infection, usually resulting in pimples, boils or rashes, but sometimes developing into serious illnesses like pneumonia or bloodstream infections, according to the CDC.

Most staph infections can be treated with antibiotics or other medicine, but about 1 percent of the population carries an antibiotic-resistant strain, meaning it does not respond to basic treatment, according to the CDC.

Clement said the university plans to send students a memo today with information about staph infections, as well as hygiene tips and other advice to reduce chances of contracting the infection.

"Because there has been so much media attention, we just want to make sure our students have good information about what to do," Clement said.

Students who live in the hospitalized student's suite said university officials ordered their rooms cleaned yesterday and plan to fumigate today. All of the contents of the infected student's bathroom were thrown away and all surfaces were wiped down with disinfectant, the students said.

Moist and dirty environments tend to harbor the bacteria, making facilities like hospitals and public gyms prime places for the infections to occur, Clement said.

Andrea Thompson, associate director of facilities for Campus Recreation Services, said staff members clean everything from workout equipment to sinks to floors in campus recreation buildings with disinfecting agents because gyms are prone to bacteria like staph.

"Our general cleaning practices factor in disinfectants on a regular basis," Thompson said. "We are meeting our protocol and standards for cleaning."

Open cuts and direct contact with skin are common ways of transmitting the infection, according to the CDC, making pools and locker rooms other infection-prone areas.

Carrie Tupper, director for aquatics, said pool decks are cleaned throughout the day with disinfectant to prevent the 300 to 500 students who visit it daily from spreading diseases.

"We are continuously disinfecting as we normally would because [the risk of infection] is serious in nature," Tupper said. "Being a wet environment, we just want to make sure we are protecting the patrons that use our facility daily."

Both Tupper and Thompson said no changes to cleaning methods are planned, but the outbreak in areas near the campus have prompted informal discussions about cleanliness.

Reporter Patsy Morrow contributed to this report. overlydbk@gmail.com