Four additional cases of penicillin-resistant staph were confirmed in two different high schools Thursday.
Three students at Southampton High School and one in the Roosevelt Union Free School District were diagnosed with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
"I couldn't believe that this was going around Southampton High School," said student Chris Epley. "I always thought of it as a pretty clean place."
MRSA is a potentially deadly, but mostly treatable, staph infection contracted by nine students in six school districts on Long Island in recent weeks. In addition to Thursday's announcement, cases were reported in Sachem East, Baldwin, Freeport and Longwood.
The drug-resistant infection is "nothing you should be overly concerned about," according to Suffolk Health Commissioner Dr. David Graham. "This is a treatable form of bacterial infection," Graham said.
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