Slowing Down Staph Infections: State Officials May Begin Requiring Counties to Report Serious Cases of Dangerous Strains to Health Authorities

By Judy Lin, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Nov. 6–State officials may begin requiring counties to report cases of severe staph infections in response to recent high-profile cases at schools in the Sacramento region and across the country.

State epidemiologist Dr. Gil Chavez said Monday during a school awareness campaign event that California does not currently track the number of staph infections because the bacteria are so common.

But after the appearance with state schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell, Chavez said Department of Public Health officials have begun exploring the idea of adding severe staph infection to a list of diseases counties have to report in order to better track infection rates. Currently, West Nile virus and E. coli are among some of the many diseases that health officials track.

Chavez said the state would be interested in tracking only those strains of the bacteria that don’t respond to common antibiotics in the penicillin family, particularly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

“It’s not helpful to report all cases because you wind up with thousands of milder cases,” Chavez said. “It dilutes some of the most severe cases where you want to focus.”

State public health officials are taking a closer look at MRSA as a recent string of cases appeared at schools, including Natomas Middle School and Rocklin High School. Last month, a 17-year-old high school student died in Virginia from a staph infection.

Chavez said the department has contacted states like Minnesota and Tennessee for advice and will be holding advisory meetings with representatives from hospitals, doctors, and nurses over the next few weeks to find out what information would be most useful for public health officials.

The bacterium, once largely confined to hospitals and prisons, has become a community-based disease. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that MRSA appears to be more prevalent than previously believed.

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, estimated that 94,360 invasive MRSA infections occurred in the United States in 2005. Of those, 18,650 resulted in death.

Currently, only three counties in California have some reporting requirement for staph infections: San Mateo, Santa Clara and Del Norte.

Officials in those counties say the data they collect have helped paint a better picture of the bacteria’s epidemiology. And in some cases, they have resulted in better guidelines for doctors.

Santa Clara County’s health officer, Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, said he mandated the reporting of MRSA in 1995 after sensing that infections were spreading from local hospitals into the community. Last year the county logged 3,000 cases of MRSA, and Fenstersheib said the county will match that this year.

Fenstersheib said the county issued guidelines urging doctors to treat anything that looks like a staph infection as such. Most staph infections are minor and can be treated with antibiotics. But in rare cases, the infection can spread to the bloodstream.

“We really want the physicians to treat it with the right antibiotic,” he said. “If you can get it when it’s a spider bite or pustule, you can get it taken care of.”

On Monday, Chavez joined O’Connell at Sutter Middle School in Sacramento to remind students, teachers and parents that there are simple steps they can take to protect themselves against an infection.

“The best way — and, really a very easy way — to keep the bacteria from spreading is by washing your hands, avoiding sharing towels or other personal items, and keeping any infected wounds or sores covered at all times,” O’Connell said.

Twelve-year-old Tatyana Gurtovenko, who was among a select class of students to attend the news conference, said she had not heard of the bacteria until Monday. She will be sure to wash her gym clothes.

“It sounds scary and I’m wondering if it spreads as fast as they say,” Gurtovenko said.

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