Sludge Watch ==> MRSA: Virginia District's Schools Scrubbed; Teen Not First to Die

[Maureen Reilly]

FOXNEWS.COM HOME

Superbug Scare: Virginia District's Schools Scrubbed; Teen Not First to 
Succumb to Deadly Infection
Wednesday, October 17, 2007


All 21 school buildings in Bedford County, Va., were being scrubbed and 
sanitized Wednesday after the death of a 17-year-old high school student 
from a powerful drug-resistant strain of staph bacteria.

The schools, all in Bedford County, Va., were closed after students there 
launched a protest over unsanitary conditions Monday, using text messages 
and social networking sites.

The students took Bedford County Schools Superintendent James Blevins on a 
tour Tuesday of Staunton River High School to show him how unclean it was, 
in particular the sports locker rooms.

One of its students, Ashton Bonds, died Monday after being hospitalized for 
more than a week from Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, 
a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related 
antibiotics. Blevins subsequently ordered the schools closed for cleaning.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,302605,00.html