Perth Amboy Middle School Reopens After Being Disinfected
PERTH AMBOY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Students at a New Jersey school are back in class after a rare infectious bacteria forced officials to close the building.
The William C. McGinnis School in Perth Amboy had been closed since Monday. Hazmat crews disinfected the campus after school officials said a sick staffer contaminated the facility with a rare and infectious bacterial infection called clostridium difficile, or c-diff, CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported.
"C-diff can be a very serious infection, but generally infection of transmission requires close contact with the infected person's diarrhea," said CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez.
For two days, students had to stay home as the teams sanitized the school, in what officials described as a top to bottom cleaning.
On Wednesday, students had the option of attending class at other school in the district.
District officials posted a message on their website saying they took the action out of an abundance of caution.
"We just want to make sure students and staff will be safe upon their return to school," the message read.
Some parents said they're still concerned.
"They did the best that they could but that still worries me as a parent; what else could have possibly slipped through the cracks?," parent Cynthia Ramos said. "We gotta send our kids to school and feel safe with them being there."
At this point, school officials said it's not clear if or when the students will make up the days of classes they missed.
Experts said clostridium difficile is rare but in some cases infections can be life-threatening.
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