College combats MRSA threat

Author: Zamir Ahmed

In light of recent media coverage regarding the bacterial infection methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), you might believe that you could be the next victim of this potentially fatal infection. However, according to College health officials, Middlebury has one of the lowest infection rates in the region because of well-established, existing prevention methods.

MRSA infections, which are caused by the same bacteria that cause minor skin infections such as pimples and boils, have drawn national attention in recent weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association that claimed the infection was associated with 18,650 hospital stay-related deaths in the U.S. every year, more than the annual number of deaths caused by AIDS in America. In spite of this alarming figure, it is unlikely that the infection is fatal to previously healthy individuals who contract the bacteria.

While most fatal cases of MRSA occur in hospitals or other settings with people already predisposed to infections, outbreaks of MRSA have already cropped up at colleges and schools around the nation, forcing the temporary closures of facilities and institutions in order to disinfect the environment. Despite the growing presence and global awareness regarding MRSA, the College has been relatively MRSA-free.

"There is no study as yet, but based on reports from other NESCAC schools, I can say very confidently we, at this point, have the lowest rate of athletic-associated infections in the NESCAC," said Dr. Mark Peluso, director of the Parton Health Center. "I think we've had two [cases of MRSA] since 2004. Other schools have had dozens."

Even with the low number of MRSA infections at Middlebury, the College and community have seen a growing number of staph infections each year. Staph infections are another, less dangerous form of infection caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

"I don't have exact numbers so I can't say if it's two or three or four [staph infection cases] a week but it's fairly common," said Dr. Fred Kniffin, an emergency room physician at Porter Hospital. "It's been like this for the past year or two. Five years ago we never saw it and now it's a fairly common occurrence to see in patients."

According to Peluso, the College's low rate of MRSA infections is due to the institution's early recognition of the threat. The first reports about community-associated MRSA were published in the late 1990s with regards to infections among athletic teams. These reports aroused the attention of the Health Center, which began following the problem in 2004.

"Those early reports woke us up to the fact that there might be a problem," said Peluso. "Some NESCAC schools started to see problems and they started having outbreaks in their facilities. So I started educating myself on it and reading about what you can do."

After doing research about MRSA, Peluso discovered a number of means of preventing the infection, which have been implemented at the College. At the health center, medical personnel now use paper towels to dry their hands between patients instead of the previous use of towels. In addition, athletic trainers are now fully supplied with all appropriate wound dressings to address every type of turf burn at the time they occur. The medical staff has also focused on educating athletes and students about MRSA.

"We're recommending to athletes that they don't share towels," said Peluso. "We got the bars of soap out of the showers and recommended people used personal products. They replaced the spray bottles in the gym with the portable wipes and put up signs all over. We have to educate people every year about MRSA as they're coming in."

In addition to the steps taken by the medical staff, Peluso praised what he termed the "great work" being done by Facilities Services to prevent staph infections and MRSA.

"The stuff they're using works against staph bacteria," he said. "It's not some super-resistance bacteria that we need to use special cleansers for. We just need to clean. I credit the low rate of infection at Middlebury in part to the prevention measures that sports medicine has been doing but also to the work that Facilities does."

The College is not the only local facility adopting methods to tackle the threat of MRSA. Porter Hospital also has measures in place to stop the spread of infections.

"We can't really prevent what is going on in the community," said Kniffin. "We have a pretty intensive cleaning method in place for our staff. We also clean every room thoroughly before reuse. It usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to clean a room before can be used again."

Although there is hope that the current measures in place will prevent an outbreak of MRSA on campus, Peluso has researched measures regarding stopping the infection in its tracks if it comes to Middlebury.

"We've been looking at what's been done at other places," said Peluso. "One is to increase public awareness. The prevention methods work really well in healthy individuals. If there was a certain subset of individuals, we might ask those people to do a nasal eradication with a topical gel. We might ask people to do chlorhexidine showers - essentially a surgical antibiotic scrub. Those measures do not eradicate it permanently - it just takes care of that subset infection."

Although prevention measures have already been implemented and responses to outbreaks have been considered, Peluso was still cautious about the potential of the bacteria spreading on campus.

"It's everywhere," said Peluso. "I think our prevention methods have worked really well. We haven't had a big outbreak but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen."