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Elementary student diagnosed with MRSA

Elementary student diagnosed with MRSA

WRENTHAM, Mass. -- According to the Superintendent of Wrentham Public Schools, a student attending the Delaney Elementary School was diagnosed with the MRSA strain of the staph infection.

Jeffery Marsden, Superintendent of Wrentham Public Schools, learned of the infection early Thursday afternoon and acted quickly to inform parents.

"We wanted to make sure that everyone knows; that staff knows, that the parents know, the students know so they can take precautions," Marsden said.

Although there is no evidence that the student contracted the disease at the school, the district will take precautions to sanitize the classrooms overnight.

The student is expected to recover since the infection was diagnosed early.

Classes are expected to resume as usual.

The strain, which has been dubbed the superbug, is resistant to antibiotics. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control, 100,000 Americans are infected with MSRA a year and 18,000 Americans are killed from the strain.

A number of states across the country are struggling to contain the disease.

A student in Virginia died after contracting MRSA, prompting 21 schools to be closed. The superbug is also responsible for the death of a 4-year-old girl in New Hampshire. Two other students in Connecticut have also been diagnosed with MRSA.

Doctors say that while MRSA is serious, it is not new and that no staph infection is the same.

A football player at Abington High School was diagnosed with impetigo on Wednesday, a skin infection that is cause by staph.

According to Dr. Todd Ellerin from South Shore Hospital, impetigo is a lot more common that MRSA and a lot less scary.

The Superintendent of School in Abington ordered the locker rooms to be scrubbed and sanitized.

(Copyright (c) 2007 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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