The three infected students are under the care of a physician.  School officials are working with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department to ensure the health and safety of all Lafayette High school students and employees.

In a letter to Lafayette High School families, school principal Michael McKenzie assured parents that the three MRSA infections do not indicate increased risk for other students and staff. He explained that school administrators, in conjunction with the Lexington-Fayette Health Department, have determined that there is “a close connection” among the three diagnosed cases of MRSA, making it unlikely that others were placed at risk.

Lafayette High School is adhering to Centers for Disease Control guidelines regarding cleaning protocols. There is no word on whether the three infected students have returned to school.

Lexington area families with concerns about MRSA may contact the Health Department’s MRSA telephone hotline at 859-288-7529. Additional information is available at www.lexingtonhealthdepartment.org.

Principals will oversee the sanitizing of classrooms, bathrooms, cafeterias, and hallways, as well as school buses, fields, and playgrounds. A private company will handle locker room disinfection and another round of cleanings will take place in early November during previously scheduled school closings.

Similar precautions were taken in Morgan County last Wednesday after a student at Morgan County High School was diagnosed with the dangerous superbug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Over 200 students at Pike Central High School staged a sit-in on October 17 in an effort to convince school officials to disinfect the facilities. The students’ suspicions of a MRSA infection at the school was later confirmed.

Pike County Schools Superintendent Roger Wagner emphasized that staph infections are nothing new, and that there is not a MRSA epidemic in the county. The stepped-up cleaning measures are aimed at prevention and helping reassure parents concerned about the confirmed MRSA cases at Pike Central and East Ridge High Schools.

The students are under the care of physicians, and are being treated with antibiotics. The principal communicated to parents that steps were being taken to clean and sanitize the school building beyond usual sanitation procedures.