Officials in the Postville School District are forfeiting tonight’s football game, due to health concerns.
“We’ve had several cases of confirmed impetigo this week,” says Postville superintendent Dugger. “In order to protect our students and protect the students of the North Linn School District, we have offered to cancel the game.”
Impetigo is a highly-contagious skin condition. It usually occurs in children under the age of five and is rarely found in adults. The superintendent says there is no health threat to the general student population in his district.
“The issue is with a few of the football players and the close quarters when it comes to athletics,” Dugger says, “so it is particularly confined to that group of students.”
Dugger says students who’ve contracted impetigo are undergoing the standard treatment.
“They are on antibiotics and then we are requiring potential cases to be reviewed by a doctor,” Dugger says, “to be cleared by them.”
Health officials say the recovery time for impetigo is usually three days, so Dugger is confident all cases will be cleared by next week. According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, someone with impetigo is no longer contagious about 24 hours after they start taking antibiotics. The rash from impetigo typically heals without scarring.
Postville’s homecoming game is next Friday.
(Reporting by Darin Swenson, KDEC, Decorah)