AVA, Mo. -- Ava School leaders strongly urge parents to make sure their kids are washing their hands. The number of kids infected with a antibiotic resistant strain of staph has grown to five.

Superintendent Andrew Underwood really wants parents to help them get this under control. They believe some of these kids already had the infections before school started. They need parents for watch for the signs of the contagious disease and also take steps to keep it from spreading.

Anyone who's had to move knows what Tonya Bernal is going through. With all she has to do to get her house in order, Bernal now has one more thing on her mind: the staph infections at her daughter’s school.

“It's contagious and it doesn't heal easily and it takes a while to overcome something like that. It’s bad,” said Bernal.

She has good reason to worry about staph. The infections begin suddenly and can cause severe illness and hospitalization.

“We had a few students that I don't think realized that it was staph infection. Through our school nurse, they were referred to a doctor and we received information back from the labs that they actually had staph,” said Underwood.

The superintendent says the cases could be the antibiotic resistant strain of the infection. Since it’s passed by direct contact with the bacteria, they're taking steps to make sure the schools are safe.

“We are trying to disinfect all areas in which kids could have contact with each other; we’re just trying to do that more frequently,” said Underwood.

Bernal already keeps hand sanitizer near herself and her kids. She says she'll give her daughter advice to use it all the time.

“That's pretty scary; it’s right here,” she said.

The staph bacteria are common. Chances are good that you have some on you right now. That's why you do have to take steps to keep it from causing infection. That means washing your hands with soap and warm water, avoiding contacts with wounds, avoiding sharing personal items like razors towels deodorant and soap, and washing dirty cloths and towels in hot water and laundry detergent, and hot drying them rather than air drying to kill bacteria.