After news broke that a potentially deadly bacterial infection was cropping up among metro Atlanta schoolchildren, dozens of anxious parents at St. Martin's Episcopal School called nurse Reid Tatum to find out what the Brookhaven school was doing to prevent illnesses — even though none had occurred there.

Tatum, a registered nurse with a master's degree in public health, handled the widespread worry the best way she knew how: with information. Within days of her e-mail to parents about how to spot, treat and prevent the contagion, the calls stopped.

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Reid Tatum, school nurse at St. Martin's Episcopal School, gives John Harris Moore medication. She and other school officials in metro Atlanta are fighting off methicillin-resistant staph infections with close attention to cleanliness and information for parents.

"I understand parents being really scared about it," Tatum said. "Even the kids are worried about it."

School administrators across metro Atlanta have been waging a public education campaign — through e-mails, letters, fliers and Web sites — ever since the first methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus cases were reported in October. A Virginia high school student had died from the same tough-to-treat bacteria.

Reminding parents, teachers and students to practice good hygiene is usually the schools' first step in preventing further infections.

Some schools have taken more direct measures, such as bringing in professional cleaning services to disinfect desks, locker rooms and cafeterias after one or two students contracted the disease. In November, Continental Colony Elementary School in Atlanta had all the toys in a kindergarten classroom sanitized after one pupil fell ill.

Other schools that haven't had any cases have made sure that bus drivers, custodians and athletics staffs are following regular, proper cleaning procedures. Medical experts say that's really all schools can and should do about the so-called MRSA infections, which can occur anywhere.

"This is not like influenza or a respiratory pathogen," said Lilly Immergluck, a pediatrician at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, who specializes in infectious diseases. "So just understanding that and getting that message out is, I think, the most important step."

In recent years, some metro school systems had begun using hospital-grade cleaning products or other solutions formulated to combat the staph bug. Others implemented or considered strict hygiene policies for student athletes — who are more vulnerable to the disease because of frequent skin-to-skin contact — including requiring showers after practice and prohibiting the sharing of razors, bars of soap or towels.

Starting in November, student athletes at public schools in Fulton County can be barred from playing if they don't follow the policies, such as the requirement that they take home dirty practice clothes every day and return with clean ones.

While many parents still are worried about the potential for infection, some say they're confident that their children's schools are doing what they can to avoid outbreaks.

"I know they have policies put in place because I hear about them through my kids," said Linda MacArthur, who has a son enrolled at St. Martin's and two daughters at St. Pius X Catholic High School. "I actually really do trust both schools that my children attend. I know that they have sports trainers and nurses that are looking for it."

About a dozen school systems in Georgia have contacted the state Department of Education in recent weeks for advice on how to handle MRSA, which can cause serious sickness if not caught early or treated properly. Department officials have urged local superintendents to develop procedures for dealing with students who have contracted the disease. The department also has encouraged coaches and nurses to watch for suspicious-looking skin problems and asked schools to have regular schedules for cleaning athletic equipment.

Since the first suspected local cases were reported in Fulton County in late October, many school administrators have been more diligent in following up with public health officials and reporting the illnesses to parents of other students.

— This article was reprinted from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.