ATTLEBORO - New national statistics and reports of local cases have heightened concern over an antibiotic-resistant form of staph infection, but school and health officials say the strain has been around for a while, and precautions have been in place for some time.

"It's not that new," said Deb Ebert, the nurse coordinator for the Attleboro public schools.

But anxiety was sparked by a report last week from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that made the numbers a startling reality. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, noted that staph infections caused serious illness in an estimated 94,000 Americans in 2005 and killed close to 19,000.

Although the majority of the infections are still connected to hospitals and health care facilities among people with weakened immune systems, about 14 percent of the cases were acquired in the broader community.

The focus now is on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, the form of staph infection that is manifesting itself more and more nationally and locally. Thursday, Wrentham school officials ordered the sanitizing of the Delaney School after a second-grader was diagnosed with the staph infection. Parents were also notified, and the school was open Friday.

Other cases have cropped up around the state, including several at Dartmouth High School.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health does not require schools to report MRSA to the state unless a cluster of cases occurs, and leaves it up to school health officials and administrators to determine if parents should be notified. School officials have been opting for notification.

In North Attleboro, School Superintendent Rick Smith said precautions were taken a month ago after the high school football team scrimmaged a team in another community that had a player with the infection. Parents were notified and given advice on recommended hygiene practices, Smith said, and locker rooms were cleaned according to state guidelines.

Otherwise, regular cleaning procedures are in place, and Smith said in the future the school system will continue to follow the recommendations of local and state public health officials whenever MRSA or any other health issue becomes a concern.

The state health department launched a campaign a year ago to educate schools and the public about MRSA, and has extensive information available on its Web site.

In the Attleboro school system, the information was disseminated to parents and staff, Ebert said, and recommended measures were taken to prevent infections. At the high school, for instance, the athletic department asked maintenance staff to clean the locker rooms daily and to regularly clean sports equipment, which is not shared among athletes.

Overall, the schools encourage good hygiene and regular hand washing, she said, and have even installed dispensers with liquid cleansers in areas where water is not readily available.

The focus, she said, is not so much on MRSA, which is currently getting all the attention, but on preventing infections in general.

Ebert said she knows of no current cases of MRSA in Attleboro schools, and there has been no reason for major concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control, staph bacteria is one of the most common causes of skin infections. The usual cause of more serious conditions typically occurs in health care facilities, and include pneumonia or infections in surgical wounds and the bloodstream.

A 4-year-old girl from New Hampshire with family ties in Attleboro recently died at Boston Children's Hospital of complications from MRSA bacterial pneumonia, according to her obituary.

The concern now is that although the majority of MRSA infections are connected to hospitals and clinics, they are becoming more common in community settings such as schools, and especially among athletes involved in contact sports because staph is spread by direct skin-to-skin contact, or by contact with items used by a person with staph, such as towels and athletic equipment.

The presence of staph does not mean that a person will become infected, according to state health department, and many people, in fact, carry staph in their nose or on their skin and usually do not get infections.

But infections can occur if staph gets into a cut or wound, and it can then spread through direct contact, contaminated items and poor hygiene. Symptoms include rashes, pimples, boils or red and swollen skin.

Most infections are treated with good wound care, and more serious cases can be controlled with antibiotics. Although MRSA is resistant to some antibiotics, other drugs can be used, according to health care professionals.

The state health department advises that a student or staff member with MRSA can attend school regularly, and athletes can play team sports, as long as they are being properly treated and the wound is covered, and good hygienic practices are followed.

Both Attleboro Health Agent James Mooney and Attleboro Public Health Nurse Jacquie O'Brien said they have not received any calls from the public about MRSA or any reports of new cases. But O'Brien noted MRSA is not a reportable disease unless a cluster occurs.

Although staph infections are becoming more prevalent in the general public, O'Brien said that staph regularly exists on the skin as a resident bacteria. Her advice for people who get a wound is to wash it appropriately, then to keep an eye on it, and to consult their physician if they see any signs of an infection.

Donna Sears, the infection control nurse at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, said the hospital has identified more cases of people seeking treatment at the emergency room for blistered wounds, especially younger patients in the 17- to 25-year-old range. That may be the result of infections being spread in sports-related settings, she said.

MRSA infection, she said, can initially look like an insect bite that later becomes bumpy, swollen and red. While she advises people to not panic with every bite they get, they should see a doctor if a bite looks suspicious or if a cut or wound is not healing as it should.

The hospital itself has not seen an increase of staph infections among its patient population, Sears said, and has been addressing the issue for years through its procedures and practices.

A system has long been in place to identify and then to isolate patients with infections, she said, and a program has been adopted that encourages patients and visitors to follow good hygienic practices. The hospital also requires that rooms and equipment be thoroughly cleaned between patients.

Many infectious disease control organizations are now focusing on educating the public on precautions they can take when visiting public gyms and spas, and when children participate in sports and other group activities, Sears said.

The advice, she said, centers on the basics - good hand washing, proper care and covering of wounds and avoiding sharing towels and sports equipment.

For information on MRSA and staph in general, go to the state DPH Web site at www.mass.gov/dph, or the national Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov.

GLORIA LaBOUNTY can be reached at 508-236-0333 or at glabounty@thesunchronicle.com.