Jul 24, 2008 8:30 pm US/Pacific
Teen Wrestler Dies From MRSA Infection
DOWNEY, Calif.
A 17-year-old high school wrestler died and another teammate is battling a drug-resistant staph infection Thursday.
Noah Armendariz, a student at Downey High School who contracted the infection after returning from wrestling camp in Lake Arrowhead, died Sunday from complications.
"He was a very tough guy," Armendariz's older brother told CBS2. "He got big out of nowhere -- got bigger than me. He had the brains. He had the brawn."
Armendariz came down with a fever two days after returning from camp last month, and later developed a rash. He was hospitalized after being home for only four days.
"I honestly believed he was going to get well," mother Cynthia Magana told CBS2.
Armendariz died after being hospitalized for 16 days.
Doctors told Armendariz's mother the skin lesions may have been spider bites or chicken pox, but later tests revealed Armendariz had a staph infection resistant to most antibiotics called MRSA, according to CBS2. The diagnosis came too late.
"In this young person, hindsight is 20/20, but had he had an earlier diagnosis of MRSA and was on antibiotics he may have done much better," said Dr. Bill Kim of the Downey Regional Medical Center.
MRSA is commonly spread through skin to skin contact and poses a particular threat to high school athletes, CBS2 reported.
"If your sons are in contact sports, or even if your daughters are in contact sports, and they have a rapidly expanding skin lesion it can be a matter of life and death whether the early diagnosis is made or not," Kim told CBS2.
Said Magana: "My son was a good boy. I was very proud of him. I loved him, and I just don't want this to happen to anybody else. If his death could help somebody else then that would be comforting to me."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
