Staph infection prompts closure of Port Townsend High School's athletic facilities

Officials at Port Townsend High School said Thursday they are shutting down the school's athletic facilities for the week after a student became infected with MRSA — a type of staph infection able to thrive even when treated by antibiotics.

The same day, the bug — called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — was reported as causing a hospital patient's death earlier this week. John Jones, 46, died from MRSA in Harborview Medical Center on Oct. 31, according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

Port Townsend High School sent out a letter to parents Thursday, alerting them to a student who had been diagnosed with MRSA.

The high school said the gym, locker room and weight room will be closed for the rest of the week as the school sanitizes and disinfects surfaces.

It is unknown how the student contracted MRSA, the school said.

MRSA is commonly found on skin, and is spread by close contact with infected people and shared surfaces. Symptoms may include boils or blisters.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October said that the most severe staph infections kill more than 18,000 in the United States a year.

Washington state does not keep a tally of MRSA cases, but state Department of Health spokesman Tim Church said the state's numbers are comparable to the national average.

The Health Department recommends frequent hand-washing and the cleaning of shared surfaces before using to protect against MRSA.

Christina Siderius: csiderius@seattletimes.com