Prisoners, guards fear for health: Alaska

Link: Prisoners, guards fear for health: Alaska News | adn.com.

Prisoners are wiping down doorknobs with bleach. Guards are wearing plastic gloves whenever they touch anything inside a cell. And inmates are telling other inmates to go see a doctor when a rash shows up on their skin. Within the walls of Alaska prisons rumors are rampant about the dangers of a drug-resistant bacteria that can cause painful and potentially dangerous skin infections. But medical staff in the facilities say worries about the staph infection MRSA are overblown and want prisoners and guards to halt what they call misinformation. "This is a mirror image of society's response to HIV when it first came into existence," said Roger Hale, a physician's assistant at Palmer Correctional Facility for more than 20 years. "Ignorance causes a lot of confusion and fear." The state Department of Corrections says there have been no documented cases of deaths from MRSA. Cases of infections occur, but that is to be expected in a population generally weakened by illness as most prisoners are, said Dr. Henry Luban, the department's medical director. Only one prison guard reported it, and that was in 2006, said deputy director of institutions Bryan Brandenburg. The correction officers' union, though, says the infection is growing among inmates, spreading to guards, and has even killed two prisoners.