Thursday, October 18, 2007
Roanoke man says son died of staph infection
Jon Lovern's father said he tried to raise awareness of the risk of MRSA after his son died.
Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times
Earl Clarke, whose company cleaned the Bedford County schools suspected of being contaminated with MRSA, speaks Wednesday during a news conference at Staunton River High School
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Eight months before several well-publicized cases of staph infections came to light in the Roanoke region, one family was quietly mourning the death of a son.
Jon Lovern, 15, an eighth-grader at Roanoke's James Madison Middle School, died of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Feb. 25 at the University of Virginia Medical Center. On Monday, another teenager, 17-year-old Ashton Bonds of Bedford County, died after being hospitalized with an MRSA infection, his mother said.
Bonds' death, coming just as the federal government released a new study of the prevalence of MRSA infections, made national news this week.
It and other recent reports of less-lethal MRSA infections in Rockbridge County and Roanoke County schools have prompted school districts across the region to redouble their sanitizing efforts and to urge students to maintain good hygiene.
The newest reported cases came from the New River Valley, where Giles County officials confirmed Wednesday that two Narrows High School students have been diagnosed with MRSA.
Today, some 11,000 Bedford County students are scheduled to return to classes after a shutdown of all schools for a one-day cleanup following a protest by Staunton River High students Tuesday morning.
School officials confirmed six cases of MRSA in Bedford County in the past month, spokesman Ryan Edwards said. Ashton Bonds' diagnosis would be the seventh, though Edwards said no confirmation has been received from health officials. Two cases each were reported at Jefferson Forest High and Staunton River High. Bedford Middle and Huddleston Elementary each reported single cases.
The school system hired Servpro, a cleaning company, to clean Staunton River High, Staunton River Middle and Huddleston Elementary schools starting Tuesday evening.
Earl Clarke, owner of a Lynchburg-based Servpro franchise, said fogging machines were used to disperse a disinfectant that kills MRSA. Approximately 30 Servpro employees spent more than 12 hours cleaning and wiping surfaces at Staunton River High Wednesday. The janitorial staff at each of the other 19 schools in the county spent the day cleaning, too.
"You can clean all you want, but you are not going to get rid of the bacteria" completely, Clarke said.
There is potential for recontamination because of MRSA's presence among healthy Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 0.8 percent of the nation's population -- approximately 2.3 million people -- is colonized with the bacteria.
"We know that there is a fear," Edwards said. "It [MRSA] is everywhere. It is not just in our schools."
It is impossible for schools to close down every time a student contracts a MRSA infection, he added.
Servpro will return to Staunton River High after school today and Friday as part of an ongoing effort. Clarke said he is working with school officials to establish a contract for regular cleaning on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
All the attention this week on MRSA is exactly what Edward Lovern wanted after the death of his son Jon in Roanoke.
Lovern has been trying to warn people about the dangers of MRSA. He said he told the Roanoke school system and the Virginia Department of Health about the cause of his son's death.
"If one kid got it, if you've got a kid going to that school, they need to let every parent know," he said.
School spokeswoman Tiffany Woods said she was unaware of any MRSA-related death in Roanoke schools.
On Tuesday, a government report said staph infections have been spreading through hospitals, schools and other public buildings.
But Virginia health authorities don't require that individual cases of MRSA be reported, said Robert Parker, a regional spokesman for the Virginia Department of Health.
Parker said he could not confirm that Lovern had reported his son's death to the health department. Because of the law, however, health authorities who get a report of a case of MRSA are not required to record it.
Lovern said his only child was "healthy as an ox" before getting the infection.
"He was a strong boy," he said. "He didn't take drugs. He was very healthy."
Jon was a generous 15-year-old, his father recalled. He would help his father raise money for the Joy Ranch home for children in Hillsville, where the elder Lovern grew up.
Sometimes, Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer would go to the Joy Ranch for fundraisers, which always thrilled Jon.
"He always said he wanted to play for Frank," said Lovern, who used to work on Beamer's parents' farm.
Once, Lovern said, he had to drive over to Madison to give his son more lunch money because Jon had bought lunch for another student.
"Jon dedicated his life helping other people and I'd like people to know that," he said. "I just don't want to see a parent go through this."
Staff writer Tonia Moxley contributed to this report.
