11/27/13 - The Brighton High School wrestling room has been the source of a virulent health-related problem the last couple of years, and the Brighton Board of Education is doing something about it. A superbug known as MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, is a skin infection caused by a strain of staph bacteria that has become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat it due to their overuse. Brighton school board President Miles Vieau says that several wrestlers who use the wrestling room for training exercises have been afflicted by MRSA and other health problems, such as ringworm. High school wrestlers are among the groups most likely to contract MRSA and other staph infections because the sport involves a lot of direct skin-to-skin contact. Cheerleading, with its often tricky lifting and acrobatic routines, is another sport where MRSA has become a problem. Superintendent Greg Gray tells WHMI that the board has directed him to establish guidelines for the high school wrestling and cheerleading rooms. Access to those rooms will be limited largely to team members and coaches, and anyone with access to the rooms will have to follow the prescribed guidelines. Although floor mats and other equipment used in the training rooms are already sprayed and kept as clean as possible, the district will purchase special cleaning supplies and more closely monitor the situation in the future. (TT/JK)
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