Staph News » New Jersey http://www.staphnews.com Your Source for Staph and MRSA News Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:20:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 More Than a Dozen Cases of MRSA in New Jersey Schools This Month; State Still Has No Mandated Reporting http://www.staphnews.com/staph-infections-by-location/new-jersey/more-than-a-dozen-cases-of-mrsa-in-new-jersey-schools-this-month-state-still-has-no-mandated-reporting/ http://www.staphnews.com/staph-infections-by-location/new-jersey/more-than-a-dozen-cases-of-mrsa-in-new-jersey-schools-this-month-state-still-has-no-mandated-reporting/#comments Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:32:41 +0000 Staph News Editor http://www.staphnews.com/staph-infections-by-location/new-jersey/more-than-a-dozen-cases-of-mrsa-in-new-jersey-schools-this-month-state-still-has-no-mandated-reporting/ Note: Periodic updates will be added to the bottom of this article.
Last updated, December 7, 2007.

Parents and school officials in New Jersey are growing increasingly concerned at what appears to be an upswing in cases of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Although the state of New Jersey keeps no comprehensive statistical data on community-acquired staph infections in the state, school administrators have reported new MRSA infections at more than one dozen schools this month. Among the schools reporting infections are:

  • Bridgeton: Cherry Street School
  • Carneys Point: Penns Grove High School
  • Clifton: Christopher Columbus Middle School
  • Forked River: Forked River Elementary School
  • Franklinville: Delsea Regional High School
  • Hackettstown: Centenary College
  • Hillsdale: Pascack Valley Regional High School
  • Jackson: Jackson Memorial High School
  • Manasquan: Manasquan High School
  • Maplewood: Columbia High School
  • New Egypt (Plumsted Township): New Egypt High School
  • Oakhurst: Ocean Township High School
  • Paramus: Norman A. Bleshman Regional Day School
  • Pennsville: Penn Beach Elementary School
  • Pennsville: Pennsville Memorial High School
  • Point Pleasant: Point Pleasant Boro High
  • Vernon: Vernon Township High

There may also have been a MRSA infection in Wenonah, and two antibiotic-resistant staph infections were reported in Old Bridge Township on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, but no further details are currently available.

While most of the infected students are being treated on an outpatient basis, a 19-year-old student at Norman A. Bleshman Regional Day School in Paramus has been hospitalized with MRSA for three weeks, his family told reporters. His mother said he is fighting for his life at Hackensack University Medical Center. A second student at the private school has also contracted MRSA.

State officials cannot confirm that the number of staph cases has risen in New Jersey this year. Although county health departments collect data on MRSA outbreaks (multiple cases in a given building during the same time period), the state does not track individual community-acquired staph infections, such as those contracted in schools or parks. A statewide initiative to collect comprehensive data on community-acquired MRSA has not been announced, but the state Education Department is now asking school districts to notify county superintendents of any new MRSA cases.

Update, 10/26/07: 3 More New Jersey MRSA infections to report:

  • Egg Harbor Township: Egg Harbor Township High School
  • South Hackensack: Mount Zion Big Heart Christian Academy
  • Toms River: Monsignor Donovan High School

Update, 10/27/07: Another 7 New Jersey schools reporting MRSA infections:

  • Clifton: Clifton High School
  • Howell: Howell Middle School South
  • Newark: Roberto Clemente Elementary School
  • Paterson: School No. 16 (1 student and his father diganosed with MRSA
  • Princeton: Princeton High School
  • Princeton: Riverside Elementary School (2 cases)
  • Wayne: Passaic County Technical Institute (1 teacher diagnosed with MRSA)

Update, 11/1/07:

  • Bridgewater: Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School
  • Dumont: Selzer School
  • Elizabeth: Elizabeth High School’s Dwyer House
  • Franklin: school undisclosed
  • Hoboken: Stevens Institute of Technology
  • Irvington: Irvington High School (student is the football tea, but attends Newark Tech)
  • Millburn: Millburn Middle School
  • Newark: Newark Technical High School (student plays football for Irvington High)
  • Newark: Roberto Clemente Elementary School
  • Randolph: County College of Morris

Update, 11/3/07:

  • Englewood: Elisabeth Morrow School
  • Elmwood Park: Memorial High School
  • Marlboro: Marlboro Early Learning Center (not confirmed by bacterial culture)

Update, 11/5/07:

  • Mount Laurel: Harrington Middle School

Update, 11/6/07:

  • Manalapan: Milford Brook School
  • Middletown: Oak Hill Academy
  • Readington: Readington Middle School
  • Red Bank: Red Bank Catholic School

Update, 11/7/07:

  • Hackensack: Bergen County Academies
  • Long Branch: school undisclosed
  • Wanaque: Lakeland Regional High School

Update, 11/9/07:

  • Montclair: Montclair State University
  • Phillipsburg: Phillipsburg Middle School
  • South Brunswick: Cambridge Elementary School

Update, 11/15/07:

  • Farmingdale: Griebling Elementary School

Update, 12/6/07:

  • North Bergen: John F. Kennedy School

Update, 12/7/07:

  • Farmingdale: Ardena School

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