Schools asked to report MRSA State wants to know. At least a dozen N.J. students diagnosed. Wednesday, October 24, 2007 • By Trish G. Graber • The Express-Times TRENTON | The state Education Department has asked school districts to report any cases of the highly drug-resistant staph infection to county superintendents after at least a dozen New Jersey students were diagnosed in the past two weeks. At least two cases of the bacterial infection methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which is passed by skin contact, were confirmed Tuesday. A Centenary College student was treated for staph infection over the weekend. "We're just trying to get a sense of what is going on," said state Department of Education spokeswoman Kathryn Forsythe, "just in case there's anything we need to do in the future." The bacterial infection has gained national attention in recent weeks after a high school student in Virginia died from the drug-resistant staph infection and a recent report by the American Medical Association that found MRSA cases were on the rise. Local officials are required to report MRSA to county health departments in the event of an outbreak -- two or more cases in the same building during the same time period, leaving state officials unable to say whether cases are up. "Every year we get five or six outbreaks of MRSA," said state Department of Health and Senior Services spokesman Tom Slater. "We've had a couple this year." Staph bacteria is found in the skin and nose of healthy people, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but can enter the body, causing skin infections that look like pimples or boils. More serious cases can cause blood infections, pneumonia or surgical wound infections. MRSA is prevented by hand washing and the covering of open wounds. Over the past 20 years, MRSA infections have been limited to health care settings, the CDC reported. New Jersey recently enacted a law to prevent the spread in hospitals, requiring hospital officials to test intensive care unit patients for MRSA and to isolate those who test positive. Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, who sponsored the measure, has been pushing for expansion of the law to include all hospital patients.