Published Friday, Oct. 6, 2000
GREENVILLE
Horizon: More Tomcats diagnosed with infectionThe total number of Thiel College, Greenville, football players diagnosed with methicillin resistant staph aureus, a staph infection that is resistant to many antibiotics, is up to nine, said a spokeswoman for UPMC Horizon Health System.
Two students diagnosed this week are still in the hospital, she said. A total of eight have been hospitalized and the ninth was treated as an outpatient, she said.
Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the state Department of Health, said the department has not been able to identify where or how the students, all starters for the football team, contracted the infection.
The infection is spread by direct contact.
The first case was reported Sept. 20 and confirmed by laboratory test results a few days later. McGarvey said he's not surprised that additional cases have been found.
"Once you start looking for something you tend to find it," he said.
McGarvey said he had only received confirmation of seven cases and the possibility of an eighth.