news-record.com

GREENSBORO — A case of MRSA, or antibiotic-resistant staph, has been confirmed on the wrestling team at Southeast Guilford High School, school officials said Friday.

Southeast Principal Ralph Kitley said he learned Friday that a student was infected with MRSA, and the school is following state guidelines to prevent its spread.

"We work hard daily to ensure that our students learn in a healthy environment. The safety of my students ... is the top priority for me," Kitley wrote in an e-mail. "Any wrestler with a skin infection must be cleared by a physician before being allowed to wrestle."

Kitley said Southeast parents were notified about the infection Friday evening by a Connect-Ed phone message.

Doctors diagnosed the MRSA infection Thursday night in Tyler Rush, a 16-year-old sophomore on the Southeast wrestling team, his mother, Sheila Rush, said Friday.

MRSA is a skin infection caused by staph bacteria that may appear as blisters and boils that are often red, swollen and painful, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The infection, which has the proper name of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, has been called a "super bug" by some doctors and is often resistant to many other antibiotics. MRSA can be fatal if left untreated.

"He’s had staph for about a month now," Sheila Rush said of her son Tyler. "He’s weak with blisters all over his legs, both arms and has had several other symptoms such as a loss of appetite, weight loss and depression."

Tyler is quarantined in his bedroom working toward recovery, his mother said Friday.

She believes Tyler contracted staph on Jan. 3 in a wrestling match with Southwest Randolph High School — the day before the infection was diagnosed.

"I do expect others to occur," Sheila Rush said. "The doctor said he has a fear that the whole team has contracted it."

At least one other student on the wrestling team, 15-year-old freshman Matt Neese, has been infected with staph two times, his father, Michael Neese, said Friday.

"It’s been swept completely under the rug and unfortunately it did turn to MRSA (in Tyler’s case)," Michael Neese said.

Michael Neese said he was alerted to his son’s staph infection when another parent noticed sores on Matt’s leg during a tournament on Dec. 8.

He tried to pull his son from the match to see a doctor, Michael Neese said, but was told by coaches that Matt would "need to cover it up and continue wrestling."

Michael Neese said he has seen blisters on the legs of other wrestlers on the Southeast team and heard about other infections through students’ parents.

"We’ve tried our best for a month and a half to stop this," Neese said. "We went through the chain of command, and they won’t help us."

Haley Miller, a spokeswoman for Guilford County Schools, said she could not confirm whether the wrestling team had been dealing with a series of staph infections.

A phone message for Southeast’s Athletics Director Phil Smith was not returned Friday night. Attempts to reach wrestling coach Jim Cox and Guilford County Athletics Director Herb Goins also were unsuccessful Friday night.

MRSA among athletes at Triad high schools made news in October 2007 when cases were confirmed at East Forsyth, Smith and Northeast high schools.

Southeast’s wrestling team is scheduled to compete today in the Mid-Piedmont Conference meet at Ragsdale High School.

Information on whether the team will compete was not immediately available Friday night.

Staff writer Robert Bell contributed to this report.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com