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Friday, October 26, 2007
Campus Germs, Part II: When To Tell The Parents?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve spent all week reporting on these drug-resistant staph infections popping up in students around metro Atlanta, and I can honestly say that this has been the most frustrating story I’ve ever worked on.
Every time I talked to someone about the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria to find out how school systems handle reporting to parents and public health officials, I heard a different story.
There just does not appear to be any uniform guidance from state and local health departments (those responsible for identifying outbreaks of infectious diseases) on how school systems handle MRSA, which can cause potentially deadly bacterial infections.
Some school health administrators repeatedly told me they’re not expected to report MRSA-related staph infections — even though they report other contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis and measles.
But experts at the Georgia Division of Public Health, who oversee such reporting, said school nurses must alert public health authorities about infectious diseases — including MRSA — when they find out about them. It’s the law.
School nurses do frequently rely on public health officials to provide direction when they learn of a student who has been diagnosed with a spreadable illness. But even when that diagnosis is confirmed, parents are not always informed that a very sick child may have been in school.
Sometimes, the problem has been treated and medical experts have agreed the child is not a threat to others.
But when the student has potentially exposed classmates, shouldn’t other parents — and teachers, for that matter — at least be notified to look out for symptoms themselves?
UPDATE: For another perspective, check out Mike King’s editorial, which urges parents not to fret over MRSA.
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