Schumer Proposes Nationwide Reporting for Staph Infections

Senator Schumer is proposing a nationwide reporting system for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, after the death this month of a Brooklyn boy.

The proposal, which would promote better tracking and research of "superbug" infections, is one of several being touted by lawmakers after health officials linked the boy's death to a drug-resistant staph infection last week.

"Unfortunately, without labs and hospitals reporting MRSA infections, we'll never know where the next case could pop up or if we have things fully under control," Mr. Schumer said yesterday.

Omar Rivera, 12, a student at I.S. 211 in Canarsie, died October 14 after missing several days of school. Last week, the city's health department reported that he was infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA infections are bacterial infections, the majority of which occur in hospitals or health care settings. More than 90,000 individuals each year are infected with MRSA, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, a community-associated form of MRSA has made headlines in recent weeks, following the death of a 17-year-old student in Virginia. A number of students on Long Island have also been diagnosed with MRSA, as have 10 athletes in New Rochelle. Public schools in Mount Vernon, N.Y., were being disinfected after a school employee and a student showed symptoms of infection, the Associated Press reported over the weekend.

Following the death of the Brooklyn student, Assemblyman Dov Hikind and state Senator Carl Kruger are proposing a bill that would require schools to post signs in bathrooms and gyms to remind students to wash their hands.

"The incidents of the past couple of weeks graphically demonstrate that we're not dong enough to prevent it," Mr. Kruger, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said yesterday. Hand washing, he said, "makes good common sense."

In the coming weeks, the City Council is also expected to convene hearings on the city's MRSA protocols. Yesterday, Council Member Joel Rivera, the chairman of the council's health committee, emphasized that the hearings should not be misinterpreted as a cause for mass hysteria.

"The hearing will give an opportunity for the public to come in and express their concerns and hear about the responsibilities of the Department of Education and the Department of Health," he said.

Last week, state Senator Martin Golden introduced a bill that would require hospitals to screen patients for MRSA when they are admitted.

"Restaurants are inspected for cleanliness, not hospitals. That's a serious misplacement of resources," the chairwoman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, Betsy McCaughey, said. In schools and other settings, she said, cleanliness is the answer.

"Good hygiene. Why not do it?" she said. "Why not warn students not to share gym clothes and to clean their hands frequently?" Community-associated MRSA infections spread through cuts or other openings in the skin, she said.

"The steps that can be taken to protect students from MRSA are simple, inexpensive, and in no way inconvenient," she said.