Two more MRSA cases in Tucson schools

Undergoing intensive cleaning was Pueblo Magnet High School, 3500 S. 12th Ave., after a staff member developed a rash that was confirmed to be MRSA.

Also disinfected was Van Buskirk Elementary School, 725 E. Fair St. after a student there showed similar symptoms that tested positive as a MRSA infection.

Both victims are being treated and have not returned to their schools, TUSD officials said. Their infections follow two earlier confirmed MRSA cases within TUSD, in student athletes at Sahuaro High School.

MRSA — methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus — is a common, though difficult to treat bacteria that has plagued hospital patients for decades, but only recently moved into communities across the country. Clusters of cases have cropped up in schools in nearly a dozen states in recent weeks, with the death of at least one infected student.

MRSA often causes no more than a stubborn skin infection, but if the “superbug” gets into the bloodstream, it can invade vital organs and bones — and can prove fatal.

All four TUSD cases appear to be the less severe, non-invasive type, according to district health officials. None have required hospitalization.

Seeking to allay fears, the schools’ principals sent letters to Pueblo and Van Buskirk parents that read, in part:

“We would like to remind you that MRSA is common in all communities ... Although this type of infection may not respond to treatment with most common antibiotics it is treatable with alternative antibiotics. MRSA is not more contagious or more ‘deadly’ than other staphylococcal infections.”

The letter also said 209 MRSA cases have been confirmed in Pima County so far this year. However, officials at the Pima County Health Department could not verify that figure, noting that the county does not track MRSA cases.

To date, some 997 cases of severe, invasive MRSA have been reported in all of Arizona this year, according to records from the state health department.