NY Times – September 03, 2014
by KIA GREGORY
The New York City fire commissioner has ordered a change in training exercises at the fire academy on Randalls Island after a number of probationary firefighters contracted the drug-resistant bacterial infection MRSA. The training academy reopened on Tuesday, five days after the commissioner, Daniel A. Nigro, and the chief of the department, Edward S. Kilduff, ordered that training be changed and that an environmental cleaning company disinfect locker areas, bathrooms, a bunker gear storage room and other high-risk areas. The cleaning started last week and continued over the Labor Day weekend.
Since July, when a class of more than 300 probationary firefighters began their training at the academy, 22 students contracted skin infections that required medical leave. Most of the cases have been attributed to the bacteria MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause severe illness.
The department became aware of the staph infections in mid-July through a handful of cases, said Francis X. Gribbon, a department spokesman. Mr. Gribbon said the most recent case was reported last Wednesday.
Mr. Gribbon said the department believed that open wounds were the “point of entry.” In all but one case, the infections developed at wounds on the students’ knees. The wounds are thought to have occurred while the probationary firefighters were doing calisthenics or a training exercise known as Motivation Alley, which involves crawling over asphalt and operating heavy hoses.
“It is physically grueling,” Mr. Gribbon said. Even in gear, students can get scrapes on their knees. Some, Mr. Gribbon said, “weren’t bandaged properly.”
Staph bacteria are common on the skin of healthy people and do not usually cause infections. One sign of a staph skin infection is a red, swollen and painful area on the skin. The symptoms are more likely to occur if the skin has been cut or rubbed, which gives the bacteria a way in.
The infections at the academy were first reported by DNAinfo.
“MRSA is everywhere,” Mr. Gribbon said. “It is in our environment. It cannot be eradicated or contained completely.”
The Fire Department has been working with infectious disease specialists from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Mr. Gribbon said.
In a Fire Department order issued on Thursday, Mr. Nigro and Mr. Kilduff said: “We are seriously concerned with the recent cases of MRSA among the current class of probationary firefighters at Randalls Island and have acted aggressively to both understand how this occurred and to do everything possible to eradicate the problem.”
The department halted the Motivation Alley exercise until the asphalt surface could be covered with rubber mats. It has also required that all probationary firefighters wear kneepads for activities that involve crawling.
The department was “taking every appropriate action,” the order read, “both to treat those who have become ill and protect all personnel who train, work or visit the academy.”
Six students have returned to the academy, Mr. Gribbon said. The rest are on medical leave, he said, adding that it was unclear how their training would be affected.
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