SEATTLE - Recent cases of MRSA infections have local parents worried.

Port Townsend High School's athletic facilities closed for cleaning after a student became infected and a local man died of MRSA.

When Talon Krise got sick a year ago his mother had never heard of MRSA. She thought his illness would be routine.

"Cold symptoms on Saturday, a little bit of a fever, not much," said Cami Krise. "But he woke up Sunday and couldn't walk."

Talon ended up in intensive care at Seattle Children's Hospital. He spent weeks battling for his life.

"I was awake with him during the day, and my mom stayed with him at night," Cami said.

His family will likely never know how he contracted MRSA, a staph infection that has become immune to most antibiotics.

Dr. Danielle Zerr, medical director of infection control at Seattle Children's Hospital, says doctors here are seeing more and more children with MRSA.

"Between 2002 and 2006 the numbers have increased dramatically," Zerr said.

And cases are on the rise across the country.  A new study estimates nearly 19,000 people die of MRSA infections in the United States each year.  Many were exposed in hospitals.

But the strain of MRSA passed from child to child is becoming more common. It's transmitted by skin- to- skin contact or contact with an infected surface.  Outbreaks among athletes have alarmed parents and the medical community.

Zerr says warning signs can alert parents of a possible MRSA infection.

"Redness, swelling, something that looks like a pustule," Zerr said. "Many parents think that their child has a spider bite.

Talon didn't have those symptoms. But he had extreme localized pain and another telltale sign.

"His temperature had gone from, at my parents' house from 100 to over 105 by the time we got to the hospital," his mother said.

Zerr says the infection rarely becomes as serious as it did in Talon. Still, if a child has a spiking fever, vomiting, or any of the other signs parents need to call the doctor.

Experts say overuse of antibiotics helps superbugs like MRSA to emerge. Antibiotics should only be used if they're necessary, and will benefit a child.

The best protection against MRSA is a common sense one: Wash your hands, don't share towels and hygiene items, wipe down surfaces that contact skin and cover skin infections with a dry bandage.