Staph Infection

The death Saturday of Ricky Lannetti, a Lycoming College football star and graduate of Father Judge High, was caused by a staph infection, Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling said. The 21-year-old senior died at Williamsport Hospital about 12 hours after he was admitted Saturday. He had begun to experience flu-like symptoms four days earlier. "He went in a little after 7 [a.m.], and kind of spiraled down throughout the day," Kiessling told the Associated Press. "They were trying to stabilize him. " Kiessling added that tests will be done to find the source of the infection, although it may never be known.

With schools in Philadelphia about to reopen, City Councilman Jack Kelly yesterday issued an alert on a staph infection that on rare occasions can become deadly. Kelly called a news conference outside City Hall to issue a warning about the dangers of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). As its name implies, the bacteria infection that starts out as a boil on the skin is resistant to antibiotics. "This is a deadly serious public- health problem," said Kelly.

Athletes at two South Jersey high schools are being urged to take extra precautions after classmates were infected by a staph bacteria outbreak that has swept the country. Eight football players at Haddonfield Memorial High School are the latest area students diagnosed with the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, school officials told parents in a letter this week. The infection, known as MRSA, has been on the rise among athletes nationwide. Elsewhere in Camden County, there have been six confirmed cases of the infection at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, school officials said in a statement yesterday.

John LeClair's recovery from a staph infection in his back took a positive turn yesterday when the Flyers left winger skated for the first time since mid-January. "I felt awkward," LeClair said after his workout. "I haven't skated in such a long time. But everything else is positive. " LeClair last skated in Tampa, Fla., before the staph infection in his back was diagnosed. He wore his full back brace yesterday. That will come off in two weeks, two days, he said. "My back is feeling OK," said LeClair, who has played just five games this season because of disk surgery and the infection that followed.

From all accounts, the Flyers' John LeClair's staph infection after disc surgery shouldn't spread, and his prognosis is "good," a local infectious diseases expert said. LeClair has developed a low-grade staph infection in the area of his back where he underwent disc surgery Oct. 21 in Los Angeles and will be treated with intravenous antibiotics for eight weeks, followed by oral antibiotics, according to the team. Doctors called LeClair's illness a "disc-space infection. " Dr. Phyllis Flomenberg, an infectious diseases specialist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and assistant professor at Jefferson's medical school, said staphylococcus infections can be serious, and in rare cases, fatal, but LeClair appears headed for recovery.

Authorities said that former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young has been arrested in California for the third time in a week. Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joe Balicki said the 23-year-old Young was arrested late Friday in San Clemente for allegedly breaking into a home. Balicki said Young fought with deputies after a foot chase. He has been charged with attempted burglary, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He was in custody Sunday on $75,000 bail.

Cleveland Browns center LeCharles Bentley was cleared by his surgeon to return to the playing field yesterday, another major step in his unexpected comeback from a career-threatening knee injury. Bentley, 27, had a physical with Dr. Russell Warren, the Giants' team physician who performed two operations on the two-time Pro Bowler, whose injury was complicated by a staph infection. Bentley's first season with the Browns ended on the first play of contact in training camp last summer when he tore the patellar tendon in his left knee.

Former Cleveland Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius sued the team and the Cleveland Clinic yesterday, saying the team misrepresented the cleanliness of its training facility and blaming doctors with negligence over a staph infection in his right knee that kept him from playing last year. The lawsuit alleges that physicians Anthony Miniaci and Richard Figler failed to warn Jurevicius that therapy equipment was not always sanitized at the team's training facility in suburban Berea. The filing was first reported by the the Cleveland Plain Dealer on its Web site.

Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik says he nearly died from an allergic reaction to medication used to treat a staph infection. Pavlik tells the Associated Press that he doesn't remember being admitted to the hospital last month, but that doctors told him "it was pretty serious. " "It was the worst form of reaction you could have," he said. Pavlik had been dealing with a staph infection on his left hand since February. He was supposed to defend his titles against Paul Williams on Dec. 5 at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, but the fight was canceled Wednesday when trainer Jack Loew realized Pavlik still could not make a fist with his injured hand.

W. Stanley Nunn took charge at the Gloucester County Jail amid controversies surrounding the death of an inmate, staph infection outbreaks, and complaints of cell overcrowding at the 180-bed facility. Yesterday, a little more than a year after county freeholders tapped Nunn to overhaul the troubled jail, officials announced his retirement, saying he had made significant progress in revamping the facility. The freeholders said Nunn, a Bridgeton resident, is leaving his job as director of the Department of Correctional Services for health reasons.

Authorities said that former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young has been arrested in California for the third time in a week. Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joe Balicki said the 23-year-old Young was arrested late Friday in San Clemente for allegedly breaking into a home. Balicki said Young fought with deputies after a foot chase. He has been charged with attempted burglary, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He was in custody Sunday on $75,000 bail.

At the Madrid Open, Rafael Nadal reached his seventh consecutive final since returning from a knee injury, brushing aside Pablo Andujar , 6-0, 6-4. Nadal will play Stanislas Wawrinka in Sunday's final. Wawrinka recovered late to defeat Tomas Berdych , 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in the other semifinal. Also Sunday, top-ranked Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will meet in the final with the No. 1 ranking on the line. Williams will have a chance to win her 50th title after downing Sara Errani , 7-5, 6-2. No. 2 Sharapova beat Ana Ivanovic , 6-4, 6-3. NFL: George Sauer Jr ., 69, who had a huge day in the biggest game in New York Jets history and then surprisingly walked away from football a few years later, died Tuesday in Westerville, Ohio, of Alzheimer's disease.

THE YANKEES' team bus was on the Henry Hudson Parkway last Saturday when Joe Girardi's phone rang. After deteriorating from Alzheimer's disease since the 1990s, his father had died in Illinois. "I had tears in my eyes on the bus, so I put some sunglasses on," the manager said Thursday, struggling not to cry, "and [did] probably what a lot of men do when they go through difficult and sad times, we try to stay busy. That's what we do. And I tried to focus. " For 5 days, Girardi did not disclose dad's death to his players, preferring not to talk about it and not wanting to distract his team.

JAMES NEAL had a goal and an assist, and Pittsburgh fired a barrage of shots at visiting Carolina goalie Justin Peters before finally breaking him in a 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes last night, stretching the Penguins' winning streak to four games. Neal scored his 21st goal, one off the NHL lead. He has scored in every game of the Penguins' winning streak and has 14 goals in 16 home games. Pittsburgh outshot Carolina 52-18, giving Peters a difficult test in his season debut.

FORMER NHL forward Matthew Barnaby was fired by ESPN as the cable network's hockey analyst yesterday, a day after being charged with drunken driving for being found behind the wheel of an SUV that was missing its front tire. In an email sent to the Associated Press, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz wrote the network informed Barnaby that his contract was terminated "effective immediately. " The decision was made a day after Erie County sheriff's office said Barnaby was driving a Porsche Cayenne with front-end damage and a sparking rim in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence, where he lives.

WRESTLERS DO get hurt. They're just programmed to continue on through the pain. So you can only imagine how difficult it was for Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs and Michigan's Kellen Russell to be at the top of their game during the 2008-09 seasons and then to have wrestling snatched away from them in 2009-10. During the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships, Burroughs and Russell earned All-America status; Burroughs was crowned as an NCAA champion. Each had high expectations for 2009-10.

Dez Bryant agreed to terms of a contract with the Dallas Cowboys, making the receiver the first of this year's first-round NFL draft picks with a deal. The contract, announced Thursday, is for $11.8 million over five years, with at least $8.3 million guaranteed. The Cowboys had traded up three spots to get the former Oklahoma State all-American at No. 24. Former Cleveland center LeCharles Bentley sued the Browns over a career-ending staph infection he says he contracted at the team's training facility.

A patient at Pennsylvania Hospital has a rare form of staph infection that is believed to stem from the overuse of antibiotics. The patient - a woman on kidney dialysis - had been transferred from Delaware and did not catch the bacterial infection at the University of Pennsylvania-owned hospital, Penn officials said. Experts say the rare case of so-called vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or VRSA underscores the importance of surveillance and frequent hand-washing in hospitals to prevent the spread of such infections.

The Dallas Cowboys released five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Flozell Adams and safety Ken Hamlin 2 years after both signed long-term contracts. Adams was coming off his 12th season and was the longest-tenured player on the team, having started 178 of his 182 games for Dallas. All of his Pro Bowl selections came between 2003-08. "We will always be grateful for his outstanding durability, dependability and contributions to this team," owner Jerry Jones said yesterday in a statement.

David Mallery, 86, of Chestnut Hill, an English teacher at Germantown Friends School from 1946 to 1959 who, for more than 40 years, hosted a June teaching seminar at Westtown School in Chester County, died of a staph infection Saturday at Chestnut Hill Hospital. It was as a national advocate of teaching reform that he made his mark. In a 1963 article on his work, Time magazine stated that Mr. Mallery "has become the nation's most skilled conveyor of one teacher's technique to another.