Staph Outbreak Claims Gambling911 ReporterA Virginia high school student died as a recent staph infection outbreak continues to grow in the D.C. area and now there is word that thousands of individuals across the US could have been affected Staph. A Gambling911.com reporter has fallen victim.
Transgender reporter, Sparky Collins, was rushed to a Daytona Beach, Florida hospital on Thursday with a severe leg infections. He was covering "Bike Week".
"Had he waited another day, Sparky was informed by doctors that he would have had his leg amputated," a friend told Gambling911.com Thursday evening.
Sparky remained in the hospital under treatment.
Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where football players and other athletes - perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions - share sports equipment, officials say. The outbreak has been confined mostly to High Schools. Sparky was informed that he had a strain of Staph that is similar but not the same as what has been spreading at the High School level.
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria infections generally are not life-threatening though thousands do die each year.
A Mayo Clinic report states: "Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. If you have staph on your skin or in your nose but aren't sick, you are said to be colonized but not infected with MRSA. Healthy people can be colonized with MRSA and have no ill effects. However, they can pass the germ to others."
A cut on Sparky's leg was not responding to antibiotics prior to attending Bike Week in Daytona Beach.
Sparky's strain is not likely contagious.
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Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com
Originally published October 18, 2007 6:29 pm ET
