Four staph infection reports in Fallbrook appear to be false alarms

By: TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer
Only one verified case, officials now say | Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:45 PM PDT ∞

FALLBROOK ---- Four out of five recently reported cases of a drug-resistant staph infection in Fallbrook schools appear to have been false alarms, according to school officials.

Three of the children do not appear to have been infected at all, while one child's diagnosis was made before getting lab results, said Fallbrook Union Elementary School District spokesman Jim Whitlock. The only child that seems to have been truly infected has recovered, he said.

The infection, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or "MRSA," has made waves recently because it can be dangerous ---- sometimes deadly ---- and difficult to treat. In January, such an infection killed a 13-year-old Encinitas boy.

With each new case that surfaced, the district contacted parents and instituted rigorous cleaning methods at the campus in question.

The false alarms in Fallbrook include the two most recently reported cases, both earlier this month at Frazier Elementary School, where the parent of two siblings apparently sent a false report to the district claiming the children had contracted the infection, said Whitlock.

He said the same thing appears to have happened in one case at Potter Junior High School two weeks ago.

Calling the false alarms "bizarre behavior" on the part of the parents, he said the district is looking into why they claimed their children had contracted such an alarming illness.

The fourth false alarm, in which a student from La Paloma Elementary School was identified in late February, seems to have stemmed from a doctor's note that was written the day of the examination ---- meaning the infection could not have been verified by a lab, he said.

That leaves one case at Potter Junior High two weeks ago that appears to have been diagnosed properly and then verified by a lab ---- a process that usually takes a day or two, said Whitlock.

"We've learned that you have to take a sample and get a culture at a lab, and it takes a couple of days before you know if it's MRSA or not," he said.

Staph infections cause various skin problems, such as sores that look and feel like spider bites, boils or fluid-filled blisters; it is often transmitted through skin-to-skin contact with infected individuals.

It can also remain on surfaces that have touched an infection.

"I think out of all of this, we've got one case that we can say, without a doubt, was MRSA," Whitlock continued. "I don't regret for an instant all the disinfecting that we've done, or the notices that we've sent to parents. I think it was the right thing to do."

He said the district would not change the way it handles apparent incidents of the dangerous infection.

"If a parent tells us that they've taken their child to the doctor and the doctor said the child has MRSA, we'll start disinfecting as soon as school is out," he said.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.

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