Raised awareness of infectious diseases such as Staph has taken place in the district as a result of a new protocol issued by the athletic department.
The new protocol was created as a result of eight recorded cases of Staph among athletes, according to the Bexley Board of Education’s Aug. 20 meeting overview.
“Last year was the first year that we’ve had any documented cases,” athletic director John Morgan said. “It really popped up all at once in high schools across the state.”
The new procedure states that the locker rooms and the weight room will be cleaned daily and the rooms will be cleaned twice a week in an effort to reduce the chances of acquiring Staph and other diseases.
Staphylococcus, known as Staph, is a group of bacteria that can be spread by sharing sweaty equipment, and enters the body through scratches and cuts, according to the WebMD website.
The website states that Staph usually causes mild infections on the skin which show themselves as pimples or boils, but the infections can also cause much more serious infections.
Athletic trainer John Sheets explained that the specific strain that was affecting Bexley athletes was MRSA.
MRSA is a strain of Staph that, according to WebMD, isn’t usually as serious as other strains but is harder to treat because of its immunity to commonly used antibiotics.
Morgan said that undiagnosed MRSA can be very dangerous; however, a diagnosed case is easily treated.
One of the athletes with a Staph infection last year was junior Rachel Hart.
“It started spreading quickly and I was freaked out,” Hart said. “Luckily, we knew right away and got it treated.”
Another athlete who acquired Staph was junior football player Robert Schnitz.
“I had two spots on the back of my leg, but I thought they were just bee stings,” Schnitz said. “They started getting worse and bigger and it was so painful that it got to the point where I couldn’t sleep at night.”
Schnitz said he was taken to the emergency room soon after.
“The doctor said that if I would have waited five to seven days longer, I could have died,” Schnitz said.
Sheets said that because about 25 percent of the population carries Staph on their body, staph is almost impossible to prevent.
Morgan says that nothing is fool proof, but feels that the new protocol certainly helps.
“Since we put the procedures in place, there have been no recorded cases,” Morgan said.
Published September 2007. Digitized 2025.