A Long Island student-athlete in the Babylon school district has contracted the bacterial infection MRSA and is being treated at home with antibiotics, according to a letter to parents from Superintendent Richard S. Rozakis posted Friday on the school district website.
The notice states that the district learned of the diagnosis Friday and that it was "not possible to determine exactly where the staph infection was contracted."
Parents, faculty and students are urged to be aware of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the potentially life-threatening MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, including frequent hand-washing.
The district has undertaken a thorough cleaning of the locker rooms, gyms and rest rooms with disinfectant, the notice said.
Schools in Long Island have intensified their efforts to educate coaches, parents and athletes about preventing the spread of infectious skin diseases after Nick Mauriello Jr., a Hauppauge High School wrestler contracted a near-fatal case of MRSA and the rare life-threatening infection Lemierre's syndrome.
Mauriello returned to wrestling this past school year, after spending 19 days in the hospital last February.
