More and more, the four scariest letters for parents and students across the country are MRSA, for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Over the past month, schools have shuttered their doors, sanitized their hallways and alerted parents to the presence of the spreading drug-resistant bacteria in locker rooms and on wrestling mats. At least three students have died of the infection. Headlines have alarmingly--if predictably--cried out warnings of a superbug, and there is in fact cause for real worry.
Unlike severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which emerged with a deadly energy in 2003 and caught health officials by surprise, MRSA isn't exactly...