« CT: Building Prisons No Panacea | Main | MA: Leadership Needed on Sentencing Reform »
November 01, 2007
Superbug at prisons a big fear
" Schnapp said that between July and September, there were an estimated 90 reports of MRSA in the state’s prison population."
Superbug at prisons a big fear
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 10:13 PM CDT
By Kurt Erickson
kurt.erickson@lee.net
SPRINGFIELD — The state’s largest employee union says the Blagojevich administration is not doing enough to prepare for the possible outbreak of a potentially deadly “superbug” behind the walls of the state’s prisons.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union is concerned that prison guards and other workers are being exposed to MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Agency officials, however, say there has been no outbreak of the infection within the state’s sprawling prison system and that prison health workers have plans in place to deal with the situation.
“They know how to properly address these cases,” Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said Wednesday.
In recent years, the resistant germ has become more common in hospitals and has spread through gyms and locker rooms. MRSA is often contracted through an open wound on the skin. It develops into a red swollen lesion and can potentially infect a person’s blood.
“We’re taking it seriously,” Schnapp said. “We’re not hiding anything.”
Recently, state lawmakers approved a new law that would heighten testing for MRSA at hospitals. The legislation, however, didn’t affect the prison system.
AFSCME Regional Director Buddy Maupin said the agency needs to implement more rules regarding the treatment and prevention of the spread of MRSA in prisons.
“It is time for the department to exhibit leadership in this area to prevent further transmission of this disease,” Maupin wrote in a July letter to prison chief Roger Walker.
AFSCME wants the state to impose testing of inmates who appear to have the tell-tale weeping sores that are associated with MRSA.
The union also wants rules that would allow those who test positive to be isolated, as well as measures aimed at cleaning cells, testing cellmates and improving the protection of guards from being exposed to the germ.
“It is on the precipice of an epidemic,” said Maupin. “Every day we waste, it gets worse.”
Schnapp said cases are being handled on an individual basis.
“We’re leaving it up to our medical professionals. We have all the faith that they are handling it properly,” Schnapp said.
Schnapp said that between July and September, there were an estimated 90 reports of MRSA in the state’s prison population.
But, Schnapp downplayed that number, saying there are over 46,000 inmates spread across 36 adult and juvenile facilities.
“We wouldn’t heighten it as an outbreak,” said Schnapp. “We haven’t seen a cluster.”
Prison officials are working with the Department of Public Health and health facilities at each prison to make workers aware of what needs to be done to ward off an outbreak.
“Clean, clean, clean,” said Schnapp.
Copyright © 2007, Pantagraph Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/10/31/news/doc47294418988c2251758128.prt
Posted by lois at November 1, 2007 07:03 PM