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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007
Our View
Scary stuff
With the death Monday of Ashton Bonds, a 17year-old senior at Staunton River High School, who succumbed to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Auras (MRSA) we can be that much more thankful that the affected students in Rappahannock County are here to detail their experiences with this insidious infection. Sports editor Steve Franklin talked at length with both boys and their descriptions are frightening. With a bacteria that doesn’t respond well to penicillin and related antibiotics, the MRSA strain has become a “super bug” attacking predominately athletes who are routinely exposed to cuts, abrasions and who share sports equipment, towels and uniforms. Rapp>ahannock County and the State of Virginia are not alone. This bacteria once confined to mainly hospitals is now creeping into communities and onto the sports • fields in several states. 1 Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bob Chappell responded quickly by closing down the schools just as other school districts have had to do in order to bring in disinfectants to destroy any harmful microorganisms. Staph infections can be deadly. As communities move forward in combating this potentially lethal infection, let’s be supportive to those young people in our community who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got bit by the wrong bug. We look forward to your full recovery.
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