Milford Mother Wants Stronger MRSA Staph Infection Prevention

A Milford mother, whose teenage daughter recently was sickened by a MRSA infection, says she wants her school district to do more to protect other students. However, Milford schools say they're already taking adequate steps to protect everyone in its 6,000 student district in Clermont County. Schools around the Tri-state, like Milford High, are now taking steps to prevent spread of the antibiotic-resistant MRSA staph infection. Fourteen-year old Amanda Terrell is doing much better after surviving the MRSA infection and her mother, Dreena Terrell, says she never wants to see another family go through what hers did in September and October.

Dreena tells 9News, "The worst part is seeing my daughter laying there and I can't do anything about it." "On top of that," Terrell continued, "there was nobody giving me any exact answers [as to what was making her so sick]." Amanda describes the worst of her MRSA illness. She says, "I just couldn't stand. I was hot all the time. I had to stay in, while my friends went out." Fortunately, Amanda got antibiotics earlier enough and she's back in school as she continues to recover from her bout with MRSA. But her mom worries that Milford High School, where Amanda is a freshman, isn't doing enough to prevent MRSA from spreading to other students. Dreena Terrell says, "Clean the schools. If they don't have the manpower, ask the parents. I'll come down and help scrub the schools and classrooms down, so no other parents goes through what I went through." Milford schools say they are already doing just that. Although there wasn't an administrator available for an interview, a statement on the district's website says the custodial staff is cleaning with an EPA-registered disinfectant that fights MRSA.

In addition, Purell® sanitizers are available in all classrooms without sinks. Clermont County's Health Commissioner Marty Lambert applauds what Milford and other schools are doing. Lambert says, "I think all the schools recognize the problems and are taking adequate steps to reduce the spread of MRSA. They all are doing a good job." But early this evening, Dreena Terrell was not convinced. She says she intends on pressing her case for even more aggressive MRSA precautions at Thursday night's Milford School District board meeting. Clermont Health Commissioner Lambert adds says there is no evidence that pools and other bodies of water can spread MRSA, even if someone gets in with an open sore or cut. She says the only proven transmission method for MRSA is skin-to-skin or skin-to-surface [fomites], which is why disinfectant and hand sanitizers are both a first line of protection against MRSA.