Mangaluru, June 13: Being reportedly infected by MRSA (Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), nursing students protested in front of the office of the Laxmi Education Trust here on Saturday, June 13th, and demanded for the right treatment for the infection or permit them on ten days leave to go home and take the treatment.
The nursing students alleged that although the matter was already brought to the notice of the management, no actions were taken. Over 150 students are infected by MERS(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), but there were not let to take the proper treatment and were not permitted to go home, said the students.
A large number of students protested and raised slogans against the management.
Speaking to the media persons, the management said that the matter is not very serious. It is a normal infection which reduces in three days. In this case, one of the students got infected because of not following guidelines like wearing mask and washing hands, and later around 60 students got infected. As soon as the test results arrived, the infected students were given two days’ leave and also given antibiotics. They were also asked to follow the guidelines.
Diana Lobo, HOD of fundamentals of nursing department of Laxmi Memorial College of Nursing said, MRSA will spread only if a person comes in contact with a person who is already infected by it. There are very less chances of MRSA getting spread through air. If a person is infected, it can be found from the blood test and if highly infected there will be various symptoms like high fever, soar throat, severe body pain etc. Only then there are chances of the spreading of the infection.
As many as sixty students have tested positive and as soon as it came to the notice of the management, they were granted two days of leave and a complete antibiotic treatment was given. Within two days of treatment the infection will reduce. We have separated the students who tested positive from the rest of the students, and we have provided them masks, gloves and handwashes etc. A detailed policy has been issued and posted everywhere as a precaution. MRSA is not a skin disease, but it has usual symptoms like fever and body pain and there will be no external problem at all. Till now no student is highly affected or admitted to hospital, she said.
The main issue that the students are raising is that they were not allowed to go home. We did not send them home because their families too may get infected. Instead, they can get better treatment and find a cure if they stay here, said the management.
Later the students withdrew their protest.
No MERS infection in Mangaluru:
The district Surveillance officer has confirmed that a patient has been diagnosed with MRSA bacterial infection.
According to Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya, a renowned physician in the city, staphylococcus aureus is a very common bacterium that causes hair follicle infections and abscesses. In the recent years, some strains of bacteria have developed resistance to the antibiotic Methicillin, but such strains can be treated with other antibiotics. MRSA is neither rare in Mangaluru nor contagious like MERS, he added.
