Bellaire vs. Lamar football game canceled over staph infection cases
HOUSTON - A highly anticipated Friday night match-up between two Houston ISD high schools is officially canceled after some players from one team got staph infections.
Football game canceled over staph infections
What we know:
Bellaire High School Principal sent a notice out that members of the football team had confirmed cases of staph infection.
Due to these cases, the Friday game against Lamar High School at Delmar Stadium has been canceled.
The decision came following guidance from the HISD Health and Medical Department alongside the Houston Health Department Epidemiology team. In accordance with University Interscholastic League (UIL) guidelines, the canceled game will be recorded as a win for Lamar High School.
Bellaire HS statement
What they're saying:
The full statement from Bellaire can be read below:
Due to confirmed cases of staph infection among members of the Bellaire High School football team, the Bellaire vs. Lamar football game scheduled for Friday, October 2, at 7 p.m. at Delmar Stadium has been canceled. The decision is based on guidance from the HISD Health and Medical Department and the Houston Health Department Epidemiology team. HISD is taking appropriate steps in response to the confirmed cases. In accordance with UIL guidelines, the canceled game will be recorded as a win for Lamar.
Thank you for your understanding and support of our student-athletes.
Lamar HS statement
The other side:
Lamar High School Principal Rita Graves also sent out an update confirming the game's cancelation.
We learned this afternoon that Bellaire will not be able to play this week. We will go ahead with the scheduled pep rally on Friday morning, at which time we will announce the Homecoming lower court. There will be no game on Friday night, but we will still have the dance on Saturday evening. During the dance we will announce Homecoming Queen and King. Buy your tickets before they sell out. No tickets will be sold at the door.
We are postponing the tailgate to October 31st before the game against Westside. I am inviting our clubs to host a tailgating tent and a trunk or treat site for children up to 10 years old. I can't wait to see your creativity. We will award a prize for the best trunk!
What is a staph infection?
Dig deeper:
According to UTHealth Infectious Disease Chief Luis Ostrosky, staph is a common bacterium that lives harmlessly on the skin of about 30% of people.
The infection comes when the staph enters the body through a cut, scrape or burn. It tends to look like boils in milder cases, but more serious cases can have life-threatening complications.
Ostrosky says staph infections tend to be reported in gyms and within sporting teams from high school to the professional level.
"These are environments that are very difficult to clean and people are sort of heated, moist after a workout, you know, a lot of skin sweat, little abrasions with the workouts, et cetera. And it's kind of the perfect environment for staff to transmit," Ostrosky says. "And it's not uncommon to hear stories like this where several members of a football team or a soccer team are getting the staph infection, and they need to basically shut it down and do a deep clean before people can go back in and work out."
What you can do:
Parents are advised to make sure their athlete's sports gear is disinfected after every practice.
What we don't know:
FOX 26 is waiting for a response from Houston ISD on protocols for cleaning the Bellaire athletic facilities.
The Source: Information for this article was provided by announcements issued to parents and staff by Bellaire High School Principal Michael Niggli and Lamar High School Principal Rita Graves. Information also comes from Luis Ostrosky, Chief of Infectious Diseases at UTHealth and Memorial Hermann.