Meeting will educate about MRSA

Wrestling coaches, athletic directors and members of the state body governing high school athletics will join Sen. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) Monday to discuss how to best legislate protecting student-athletes from the spread of MRSA, a potentially deadly bacterial infection.

The event, which will include a roundtable discussion, will take place at 3 p.m. in Zeldin's district office at the Duryea State Office Building on Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge.

The issue came to the forefront in February, after Hauppauge wrestler Nick Mauriello came down with MRSA and a related illness that nearly cost him his life.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is generally spread from skin-to-skin or blood-to-blood contact and has been known to afflict athletes involved in wrestling, football, lacrosse and other contact sports.