Staph Hits School Gym Locker Rooms

School gym locker rooms all over the country are suspected to be the breeding ground for staph infections, including an antibiotic resistant strain, that are causing school districts to take new precautions, sterilize locker rooms and close gyms.

A Detroit-area high school football player has been diagnosed with a drug-resistant staph infection and eight of his teammates reported a similar rash, the school district says.

As a result, Troy High School closed its physical education and varsity locker rooms, weight and training rooms, and interior walls on Wednesday so they could be disinfected, local media reported.

The eight other players with similar skin irritations sought treatment, but had not been diagnosed with the disease, district spokesman Tim McAvoy said.

The scare comes after a 17-year-old high school senior in Bedford, Va., died Monday after being diagnosed with MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The government says it's a real public health concern. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, MRSA caused about 94,000 infections and more than 18,000 deaths in 2005, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.

"I think it's a tipping point in the United States," said Dr. Neil Fishman, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, "and I think we are ... certainly on the heels of a national crisis."

In North Carolina, officials say at least six football players at East Forsyth High School have the antibiotic-resistant staph infections. School officials say the first case was confirmed in early September. East Forsyth officials are sanitizing all locker rooms, cleaning sports equipment, and requiring all student athletes to shower.

Outbreaks continued around the country, including eight football players at Nashua North High School in New Hampshire were the first to be reported with staph infections. Pinkerton Academy in Derry said at least 15 football players also recently had skin infections.

In Virginia, Chesterfield County school official say three football players at James River High School have been treated recently for staph infections.

James River activities director Doug Bachman said the first case at the Chesterfield County school was in August and the most recent was about three weeks ago.

Infections have been recently been reported in school districts in states including West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and Florida.

Meanwhile, Northern Arizona University researchers say they've discovered a new way to detect staph infections, including the deadly antibiotic-resistant varieties.

The new diagnostic tool, they tell radio station KNAU, identifies infections inside biofilms, which are communities of microorganisms bound together inside the body.

The researchers say biofilms cause more than 70 percent of community- and hospital-acquired infections.

NAU associate professor Jeff Leid says the new device will help physicians diagnose the staph infections more quickly.

Staph infections commonly spread from skin-to-skin contact or by sharing objects. People with sores or open wounds are particularly at risk.