Concern nationwide over the spread of an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria took root in southern West Virginia Friday.

Students at Summers County High School, where a football player was found a few weeks ago to have MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), protested what they say is a lack of cleanliness at the school; parents of Baileysville Elementary School students in Wyoming County attempted to block a school bus and some parents in Raleigh County claimed the bacteria has infected several students at Marsh Fork Elementary School.

The national media has reported that a student from Mississippi and another from Virginia died recently from MRSA.

Worried Marsh Fork parents kept their children home from school Friday.

Milton Aliff, of Rock Creek, said he has personal knowledge of three cases of staph that originated at the school, including the parent of a student who was recently hospitalized with the infection.

Aliff kept his child home Friday, and said he plans to do so again next week.

Raleigh County Schools Superintendent Charlotte Hutchens said late Friday afternoon that she had not been informed of any staph infections at Marsh Fork Elementary. She urged parents to understand that the school system works closely with the health department to keep students healthy.

“We have to handle this with good common sense,” Hutchens said. “If there was a major problem, the health department would notify us, and we would do whatever they tell us to do.”

Candance Hurd, director of nursing at the Beckley-Raleigh County Health Department, said that she knows of no serious cases of staph infection in the county, adding that most cases of the infection can be treated with certain antibiotics if the illness is recognized in time.

“It can be serious if left unrecognized and untreated,” Hurd said.

She stressed the importance of children avoiding unnecessary contact with each other in school.

However, Nancy Ward, an infectious control nurse at Raleigh General Hospital, said MRSA is becoming more prevalent.

“We’ve seen many cases in the last two to three months — more than before,” Ward said. “There is obviously an increase.”

Despite that, most educators and health care professionals say they believe that parents should keep their children in school.

Raleigh County Schools nurse coordinator Ann Sammons Friday acknowledged the nationwide concern over the illness, and hoped that increased awareness would lead children to develop healthier habits.

“We need to always be encouraging children to do good hand washing and personal hygiene,” Sammons said.

Liza Cordeiro, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Education, said that the state is recommending only that schools maintain their normal precautions against the staph bacteria.

Those precautions include routine cleaning of school facilities, routine hand washing among students and teachers, and covering open wounds.

If basic hygiene precautions are followed, MRSA carriers are not a hazard to others including their family and friends, according to the Web site for New York State Department of Health.

Cordeiro agreed the recent case of a fatal infection at a Virginia school has increased nationwide awareness of the illness.

“I’m all for heightened awareness, but let’s not turn this into a crisis situation,” Cordeiro said. “It is safe to send your child to school. If it wasn’t safe, we would be the first to say so.”

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