Tests found no antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria within Mt. Lebanon High School's football artificial turf, locker room or training areas, a health official said Friday.
The Allegheny County Health Department collected 13 test samples from the school's facilities on Thursday and learned the results less than 24 hours later, spokesman Guillermo Cole said.
"This confirms what we thought all along," Cole said. "The speed with which we obtained the results is a testament to how clean things are there."
The tests consisted of eight cotton swab scrapings from the football field and five environmental wipes of the locker room and training areas, Cole said.
Health officials agreed to test Mt. Lebanon High facilities after a meeting with concerned parents. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA, infections have afflicted 11 student-athletes since Sept. 13, Cole said.
"I'm glad to know that our facilities aren't contributing to the issue," said Joseph Rodella, president of the Mt. Lebanon School Board. "As a parent whose son had (MRSA) twice, I'm still concerned that we don't know why cases continue to occur at Mt. Lebanon." Rodella's son recovered fully both times and now attends college.
"Some parents want to build a new field house and get new turf for the football field," Rodella said. "But I see no data that suggests we should do that."
A study conducted earlier this year by Penn State University's Center for Turfgrass Science concluded that artificial turf is not conducive to microbial activity. Its author, Andy McNitt, a professor of soil science, has said that temperature fluctuations and exposure to sunlight make it unlikely bacteria could survive on turf. The report found no evidence of staph bacteria on 20 artificial-turf fields in the state.
Dr. Michael Green, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said there's no reason to think Mt. Lebanon High is different than other schools.
"People there might be more aware of it and are looking for it, or are more forthright in reporting it," Green said of the higher number of cases at Mt. Lebanon High. "MRSA is everywhere. Mt. Lebanon is not the epicenter of what's going on nationally."
County health officials have received reports of 104 "community-acquired" MRSA infections so far in 2007, Cole said. Roughly half of those were patients 18 and under, he said. Twenty-three Allegheny County schools have reported cases, Cole said. During three of the past four years, at least one Mt. Lebanon football player has been reported with MRSA.
The county Board of Health required pediatricians to report community MRSA cases in January 2006.
The bacteria can attack the skin and cause a raised bump and rash. In severe cases, it can cause infections of the bloodstream and pneumonia and be fatal.
Cole said more Mt. Lebanon High diagnoses probably are the result of awareness about MRSA and its symptoms.
"I give them credit," Cole said. "Mt. Lebanon is probably more vigilant about skin infections and taking their kids to the doctor for treatment when they see signs of them. It's better reporting and more aggressive case detection."
Cole added that other schools' students could be contracting MRSA but healing without being tested for the infection.
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