Several cases of the "superbug" MRSA staph infection have been reported at Karnes City High School along with one case where a 5-year-old Kenedy kindergartener had to have emergency surgery to combat an unknown infection.

So far Runge and Falls City schools report their campuses have not had any reported cases of MRSA, short for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.

The case in Kenedy has not specifically been confirmed to be MRSA as medical records regarding the 5-year-old’s infection have not been released to the school, according to Kenedy ISD Superintendent Ann Dixon.

Karnes City High School has issued a warning letter to parents and has a health alert posted on their district Web site regarding the infection.

Officials from Kenedy ISD have acknowledged the one reported case, but say there has been no evidence the infection was MRSA.

Karnes City Superintendent Frances Penland said her school district has had "more than two" reported MRSA cases, but that the problem is "not widespread" and has only recently been brought to administrative attention.

"It was recently reported, but I think now we’re finding out that there may have been some that weren’t reported. The issue is, it’s hard to know because you can’t say specifically that it’s … MRSA without a culture," she said. "What we’re doing is asking parents to be sure that they notify the nurse."

Officials from all four schools insist their campuses have been undergoing special sanitation on a regularly scheduled basis to keep at bay any potential problems with the infection.

"We have been disinfecting for months now," Penland said.

"It’s been real clean around here. The coaches, they try to keep (the school) as clean as possible," Runge ISD Superintendent Ernest Havner said. "We’re very lucky, too, because I know it’s been a bad problem around everywhere else."

In Kenedy, Dixon said the school was "already taking probably more precautions than are typical because of all this scare with (MRSA) around the country. Our pre-k and kindergarten have bathrooms between the classrooms, so we have a lot more bathrooms there. They’re cleaned twice a day and we do use an antiseptic that is specific to these types of germs. We have been very pro-active since the very first of school."

In Falls City, school workers and coaches are "taking precautions and squirting antibacterial (disinfectant) on doorknobs and around different areas … and in the athletic department," Superintendent Linda Bettin said.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus is a kind of bacterium that can be difficult to treat in humans.

Resistant to antibiotics like penicillin and methicillin, MRSA is transmitted primarily through skin-to-skin contact, especially through an open wound.

MRSA and other staphylococcus infections begin abruptly. After the infection takes hold, a large area of redness on the skin may appear followed by swelling, pain, and boils.

Medical attention should be sought immediately as staphylococcus infections can spread to the blood and bones, causing severe illness and death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently calculated that MRSA was responsible for 94,000 serious infections and was present in 18,650 hospital stay-related deaths in the United States in 2005. If these deaths were actually caused by MRSA, it would be responsible for more deaths each year than AIDS.

Information posted at the web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that staph or MRSA infections can be prevented by keeping your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based sanitizer. Cuts and scrapes should be kept clean and covered with a bandage until healed. Contact with other people’s wounds or bandages should be avoided and sharing personal items such as towels or razors should be avoided.

Both alcohol and bleach have been shown to be effective topical sanitization agents against MRSA and other similar infectious bacterium.

Click here for a more detailed online staph/MRSA fact sheet.