Mangaluru, Jun 13: As a suspected superbug MRSA is reportedly being spread among the students of Laxmi Memorial College of Nursing in the city, hundreds of the students on Saturday staged a protest to exert pressure on the management to take necessary steps to prevent the spread of the disease.
Holding posters and banners, the agitating students demanded the management to suspend the college for a week and to give proper medicine and treatment for the superbug-infected students and keep them isolated from others.
Superbug MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is a bacterium that leads to dangerous infections in human body. It is said that the bacterium can severely damage the immune system and it is resistant to many antibiotics that have been generally used to surmount the challenges of infections.
As the students of college hostel share their living spaces and equipments with others, the disease has been spreading, said the protesters.
A second year nursing student, who hails from Kannur, complained that the college authority is trying to cover up the issue as the first year admission process has commenced.
“The first positive case of MRSA in the college reported one month ago, when a student assigned to the post maternity ward of AJ Hospital showed the symptoms. Instead of isolating the patient and giving him proper treatment, the authorities insisted the same student to work in the ward along with the classmates. Gradually it started to spread among the hostel students,” he said.
“Moreover the superbug infected students continued to attend classes fearing attendance shortage. As a result the situation worsened,” he said accusing the managing of negligence and rudeness.
A female student complained that the college management was playing with the lives of the students for its selfish gain. “When we reported the issue to the principal, her response was barbaric. She shouted that the college will lose nothing even if somebody dies,” she said.
Besides, the infected students are not in a position to take sufficient treatment and rest as each extra leave has to be covered with an extension in the ratio of 1:3. If a student takes an extra leave he has to make three additional appearances as the punishment, she lamented.
The protesters said that so far over 85 positive reports of MRSA have reported in the college campus where majority are from the third and fourth year. A few more students are waiting for the test results and there is a possibility for increase the number of infected.
After an hour long protest, the college administration assured the students that the classes will be suspended for one week and necessary steps would be taken to offer free treatment. The college authorities were reluctant respond to the queries of media persons.
Not as dangerous as MERS
Meanwhile, the District Surveillance Officer has confirmed that a patient has been diagnosed with MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria infection.
According to Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya, a noted physician in the city, Staphylococcus aureus is a very common bacteria that causes hair follicle infections and abscesses. “In recent years some strains of the bacteria have developed resistance to the antibiotic Methicillin, but such strains can be treated with other antibiotics,” he said adding that MRSA is neither rare in Mangaluru nor contagious like MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).
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