MRSA questions linger at Hoover

Some parents want teacher’s death investigated to find out where staph infection originated

At the meeting, some parents contested assurances that King did not contract the antibiotic-resistant staph infection at the school.

Tierney Brennan, a parent of a Hoover student, said at the meeting that since the source of Merry King’s illness was unknown, the possibility remains that she acquired the disease at the school.

‘‘People feel unanswered as to what happened here,” said Brennan, who is also an infectious disease specialist, at the meeting. ‘‘We’re saying that there’s no possible way she acquired it in the school, [but] there is a possibility. We don’t know.”

Hoover Principal Billie-Jean Bensen, in a letter sent home with students on Dec. 10, informed parents that King had been absent since Nov. 30 and she had no reason to believe her disease was contracted at the school.

Concern about MRSA was spurred in October when more than two dozen cases were reported in Montgomery County Public Schools. At the time, many cases were reported among high school athletes. The disease is often transmitted via skin-to-skin contact — especially through open cuts or scrapes — putting athletes at greater risk for contracting the disease. Several cases were also reported in elementary schools.

Since that time, the number of cases reported in Montgomery County Public Schools has spiked to 46. Four of 46 students who contracted the disease are still being treated and are recovering, according to Kate Harrison, a spokeswoman for the school system. The most recent case, a student at Montgomery Village Middle School, was reported on Dec. 12, Harrison said.

The case marked the first appearance of the disease in a middle school student, although Harrison said she had no reason to believe the student contracted it at the school because no other cases were reported.

The reason for the uptick in the number may have to do with increased media attention on MRSA, according to Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Health and Human Services. MRSA is not typically reported, and increased awareness of the issue, especially in schools, may have led to an increase in voluntary reporting of the disease, she said.

‘‘The thing to keep in mind is that MRSA is all around us,” Anderson said. ‘‘But because it’s not reportable we don’t have a clear picture of how many cases are out there.” Cases of MRSA are not typically tracked in Maryland.

King’s death made MRSA concerns an immediate reality for some Hoover parents. At the PTA meeting, some called for an investigation into the teacher’s death to determine whether the strain of MRSA from which she died was acquired in the hospital or in the community. The two types are often distinct, Brennan said.

‘‘We don’t know where this came from,” said a parent of a sixth-grade student at Hoover who did not wish to be identified. The parent said she would support an investigation.

Montgomery County Public Schools and Department of Health and Human Services officials maintain that the school has taken careful precautions with sanitizing classrooms and any investigation into King’s death would be a private decision on the part of King’s family.

Judith Covich, a representative from the county health department, said that focusing on preventive measures — such as hand washing, covering cuts and scrapes with bandages, and reporting wounds that appear to be infected — would be a more effective strategy.

Bensen said at the meeting that King did not appear sick when she left the school’s campus on Nov. 30.

‘‘We had no indication that she was not well,” Bensen said. ‘‘She came to work and did her job — she didn’t leave early, and she didn’t say to anyone that she wasn’t feeling well.”

Many Hoover parents say the risk of contracting the disease is low. Hoover parent Jeff Berman said he encourages hand washing and proper hygiene.

‘‘I think [the school] did everything they could do,” Berman said.