Germ warfare

As a high school football coach, Chris Johnson has seen plenty of skin infections. But this past August, when his 10-year-old son, Luke, who is the quarterback of his west Forsyth County, Ga., youth team, developed what looked like a pimple just above his earlobe, he didn't think much of it - at least not at first.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELISSA EUBANKS / COX NEWS SERVICE Staph infections can be surprisingly difficult to treat, but good hygiene stops them before they start. "It grew over time and got really nasty looking," Johnson says. "My father and I actually opened it up, drained it, and cleaned it out really [thoroughly] because it was hurting him so bad."

Then a similar infection began on Luke's chin, prompting a visit to an emergency center. The doctor drained the new infection and prescribed antibiotics, but by the next day, Luke was in such excruciating pain that Johnson took him to the emergency room, where a doctor drained the infection again, and prescribed more antibiotics.

The wound appeared to be getting better, but then a third pimple began to form in another spot on Luke's chin.

"We didn't take any chances. We took him immediately to his pediatric doctor," Johnson says. "They prescribed him a new medication, and immediately gave him two big injections - one in each of his thighs - that were full of [powerful] antibiotics."

Finally, 10 days after the first pimple appeared, the injected antibiotics brought the infection under control. But the ordeal gave Johnson a new appreciation for how serious skin infections can be.

"It was very scary," he says.

A stubborn, contagious germ

Luke developed a type of bacterial infection that used to be found exclusively in hospitals and other health care settings, but is now increasingly common in the community. Called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, the infection does not respond to antibiotics of the beta-lactam family, including methicillin and penicillin, but health experts emphasize - and Luke's case illustrates - there are antibiotics that are usually effective against this so-called superbug.

There have been some deaths linked to the MRSA germ. Last month, a high school student in southern Virginia reportedly died from an MRSA-related infection, but health officials note that the vast majority of MRSA skin infections are mild and responsive to treatment. In recent weeks, a number of metro Atlanta public-school students have been diagnosed with MRSA skin infections, but there have been no serious complications yet reported from these cases.

Further, while there are antibiotics that are effective, medicine is not always the best initial treatment. In fact, a case can be made for holding off on antibiotics for early, mild MRSA infections.

"It is very clear that the overuse of antibiotics drives resistance [to these medicines]," says Dr. Christine Ziebold, an expert on pediatric infectious disease at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. The hospital is a member of the Children's Miracle Network, which is taking steps to educate the public about MRSA infections.

Ziebold says the infections often heal on their own with no intervention. In other cases, the infection will clear up after a health care provider has simply drained and cleaned the abscess.

"For community-acquired MRSA, there are many options," she says.

Any type of staph infection is easily spread through hand-to-hand contact, or even contact with a towel or solid surface that has been contaminated. Consequently, staph infections tend to occur more frequently among athletes who share equipment and among school children in close contact. In addition, staph infections are more common in the warmer months, and they tend to occur on parts of the body that are sweaty or covered with clothes such as under the arms, in the groin area and the feet.

The best defense: Good hygiene

While MRSA can be treated effectively, especially when it is picked up early, it is nonetheless a dangerous germ, and it is highly contagious, so the best way to protect your family is to practice good hygiene. This includes frequent hand-washing with soap and water.

"The [MRSA bacteria] might be resistant to some antibiotics, but it is not resistant to hand-washing," stresses Nicole Coffin, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "If you can't get to a sink, you can use an alcohol-based hand rub."

Keeping your clothes laundered and frequently changing your towels and bed linens also can help. And Coffin says it is important not to share personal items such as towels, bed linens or razors. This is especially true if you or another member of your household has a pus-oozing lesion or wound, which is the hallmark of a staph infection. All such wounds need to be kept clean and covered because the drainage from these areas is filled with germs that can spread to other parts of the body, and to other people.

Not long after Luke Johnson picked up the MRSA infection, another member of his team acquired it. That infection was treated quickly and successfully. And his father says vigilant efforts among parents and team staff to sterilize all the athletic equipment has, thus far, prevented the infection from spreading further.

"Simple things actually go a long way toward preventing the spread of these infections, and when implemented, they have actually been [effective] enough to stop an outbreak," Coffin says.

- Cox News Service staff writer Bridget

Gutierrez contributed to this story.