2008 Woodie Awards
Potential spread of staph infection affects students
Caroline May & Bennett Sumner
Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: News
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Students received an e-mail on Monday cautioning them to wash their hands in light of a staph infection outbreak in the Birmingham area.
"Samford is making a concerted effort to minimize potential exposure. Individuals may have to staph on campus, especially in athletic facilities," Shauna Yelton, director of health services, said in the campus-wide e-mail.
Tuesday, Oct. 30, the Cage was closed due to the threat of the CA-MRSA strain of staph in Seibert Hall.
"They thought it was spreading around the cage so they closed it down," sophomore undeclared major Molly McGuire said. "Right now they're on contact precaution."
Several students were infected with staph during the past year, including B.T. Hartloge, starting defensive back for the Bulldogs and senior fitness and health promotion major.
Hartloge contracted staph last year while playing on Southeast Missouri's field.
"I had a cut on my forearm and after playing on the turf field the cut became infected," Hartloge said. "I went to Health Services, they cleaned the area and took me to St. Vincent's. It was kind of painful. They had to make a big hole and clean it out."
Measures are being taken to reduce the risk of staph exposure on campus, especially by campus recreation.
"It [staph] is preventable," Director of Campus Recreation Nick Madsen said. "It's not just in gyms, it can be anywhere and anything we can do prevention wise we do it. Our custodial staff cleans the machines and floors daily. My staff cleans machines with antibacterial spray."
Students have been told to be cautious concerning the infection and some are still nervous about the possibility of staph.
"I was a little worried about it at first, and I wanted to make sure that they had taken care of the problem before I reentered the building. I have full faith that they did take care of it but you never know," Cameron Free, sophomore business major, said.
Others are fully confident in the cleanliness of facilities.
"Samford is making a concerted effort to minimize potential exposure. Individuals may have to staph on campus, especially in athletic facilities," Shauna Yelton, director of health services, said in the campus-wide e-mail.
Tuesday, Oct. 30, the Cage was closed due to the threat of the CA-MRSA strain of staph in Seibert Hall.
"They thought it was spreading around the cage so they closed it down," sophomore undeclared major Molly McGuire said. "Right now they're on contact precaution."
Several students were infected with staph during the past year, including B.T. Hartloge, starting defensive back for the Bulldogs and senior fitness and health promotion major.
Hartloge contracted staph last year while playing on Southeast Missouri's field.
"I had a cut on my forearm and after playing on the turf field the cut became infected," Hartloge said. "I went to Health Services, they cleaned the area and took me to St. Vincent's. It was kind of painful. They had to make a big hole and clean it out."
Measures are being taken to reduce the risk of staph exposure on campus, especially by campus recreation.
"It [staph] is preventable," Director of Campus Recreation Nick Madsen said. "It's not just in gyms, it can be anywhere and anything we can do prevention wise we do it. Our custodial staff cleans the machines and floors daily. My staff cleans machines with antibacterial spray."
Students have been told to be cautious concerning the infection and some are still nervous about the possibility of staph.
"I was a little worried about it at first, and I wanted to make sure that they had taken care of the problem before I reentered the building. I have full faith that they did take care of it but you never know," Cameron Free, sophomore business major, said.
Others are fully confident in the cleanliness of facilities.