N.J. Confirms 4 More MRSA Cases

POSTED: 9:06 am EDT October 27, 2007
UPDATED: 3:14 pm EDT October 28, 2007


NEW YORK -- There are four more cases of the potentially deadly staph infection MRSA confirmed in New Jersey, officials said.

On Friday, Passaic County officials confirmed that a junior at Clifton High School and a student at Paterson's School 16 had contracted MRSA.

The Paterson student's father and a teacher at the Passaic County Technical Institute also contracted MRSA, officials said.

MRSA Symptoms, Treatment

All four received treatment, news reports said.

Sen. Charles Schumer Sunday called for a nationwide reporting system for the antibiotic-resistant strain of staph infection.

The developments come a day after officials said a security guard at Roberto Clemente School in Newark was infected with MRSA.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker says the entire school has now been sanitized and the security guard is getting medical care.

Last week, MRSA was being blamed for the death of a 14-year-old Brooklyn middle-school student. Outbreaks at other schools nationwide have forced some to close while they are disinfected.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA, has gained more public attention since a recent government report that found more than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly staph infections each year.

Healthy people can carry the bacteria, which lives on their skin or in their noses. Most drug-resistant staph cases involve mild skin infections, but severe infections can enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and become deadly.

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