EON

Richmond (EON) – 21 schools in Virginia have closed due to fears of reported staph infections which could spread and do great harm to the children.

The schools were cleaned to prevent the spread of a very dangerous bacterial infection which killed a 17-year-old high school student already.

The student died this past week from a drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA.

The schools in Bedford County were all closed to allow officials to go into them and clean them as well as they possibly could. This would allow them to clean them to the point where they could get rid of the bacteria responsible for the staph infections.

Robert Parker, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Health stated that there have been three MRSA outbreaks in Virginia this year so far.

School districts are being heavily encouraged to contact local health authorities to seek advice on how to kill off the risk of infections.

Across the United States MRSA is beginning to affect more Americans as 19,000 died from MRSA in 2005 alone.