Thursday, October 18, 2007

Dirty Schools Kill

A new study just found out that MRSA, a drug resistant strain of a disease, kills more people in the USA than AIDS does, infecting over 95,000 a year.
What is most disconcerting is who this disease effects.
Mostly, MRSA has been spreading rapidly through highschools, infecting students. It thrives in dirty condidions, such as dirty bathrooms, etc...
Becuase it has become such a big problem, in school districts where deaths have occured, schools have been closed for a week to be thoroughly cleaned.
Now, lets think about Aragon.
You all know what the school is like. Do you think it needs a good cleaning? How scared are you for your health?
Also, what do you think should be done? I mean, a lot of help is made for AID prevention, but none for MRSA, even though it kills more. Should Aragon clean up, or does there need to be a case of the disease first?

6 comments:

William Chen said...

I definitely think that we should clean up first and not wait for a case to happen. If we did wait, who knows how people have already been infected but haven't shown symptoms? The bacteria could have spread to places where we wouldn't bother checking. But considering the current financial status of Aragon, we probably wouldn't clean up unless someone got infected.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering how MRSA spreads because if it spreads similarly to aids, then we probably dont need to do much to improve the clenliness of our school becuase i dont think too many students are sharing needles or having unprotected sex while at school. however, if it spreads as quickly and as easily as a virule infection such as a cold, then we should definitely do something to clean up the school and defend ourselves against MRSA.

Ryan Landis said...

No it does not spread like AIDS Greg, :(. My uncle passed away a year and a half ago from a disease like this, and yes I do think they need to step up their game and protect Americans better because it is a thing that is a deadly problem in the US and around the world, and I an easily preventable killer.

Keith Chin said...

While I agree that something should be done about these things before anyone is affected, it seems like something we, as students should be able to do, rather than being forced to rely on the school. After all, there are janitors at the school, and they do do a fairly good job of cleaning everything up, but is it that difficult to just throw trash away, wash hands, and keep a basic level of cleanliness? It would be great to have even more people paid just to clean up after all the students, but seeing the money problems the school seems to be having, I doubt that would happen. If everyone just cleaned up after themselves, I'm pretty sure it would be enough to keep almost all severe, fatal diseases such as this from spreading.

Anonymous said...

I looked up MRSA infection risk factors (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735/DSECTION=4), and some of the risk factors are personal and unavoidable at school (such as having a weak or underdeveloped immune system), but other risk factors can be prevented. For example, MRSA can spread among athletes sharing towels, razors, or athletic equipment. To prevent this, Aragon should make athletes using the weight room wipe down the equipment with disinfectant towels when they are done. (this idea might sound ludicrous, but 24hr fitness and the YMCA does it). To make Aragon more clean maybe the desks could be wiped down every week or something, but this would be a LOT of work for our already overworked, understaffed janitors. Maybe there should be an Aragon Beautification or Health club that volunteers to help wipe down desks and clean rooms to make Aragon more clean.

Kristina McOmber said...

I agree with Keith in that it's mostly the students that selfishly trash their own environment. Just the other day, some girl left her used toiletries on the bathroom floor, which made me gag and almost throw up just to see it. And who graffitied the bathroom walls with their feces?? But anyway, more school spirit and an increased respect for our school would probably be the first remedy for our ailing school.