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NEW YORK (AP) — The Fire Department of New York is taking steps to prevent infection after more than a dozen probationary firefighters were diagnosed with the drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA.
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a memo Thursday that a specialized cleaning company will disinfect showers, locker rooms and other high-risk areas at the fire academy at Randall's Island over the Labor Day weekend and that trainees' gear will be laundered with a product that kills MRSA.
The department is also revising training procedures.
Because most of the infections developed from open knee wounds, trainees will now wear knee pads for activities that involve crawling. The department will cover asphalt surfaces where the crawling exercises take place with rubber mats.
Trainees also have been given a special disinfectant, Hibiclens, to use when they shower at home daily.
"We are seriously concerned with the recent cases of MRSA among the current class of probationary firefighters at Randall's Island and have acted aggressively both to understand how this occurred and to do everything possible to eradicate the problem," the memo says.
The outbreak of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was first reported on the website DNAinfo.com.
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