PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. -- A student at Port Townsend High School was diagnosed with MRSA, school officials said Thursday. Just hours later, the King County medical examiner cited MRSA as the cause of death of a man at a Seattle hospital.

John F. Jones, 46, of Federal Way died from MRSA at Harborview Medical Centeron Wednesday, according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

MRSA, short for "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus" is also known as the "superbug", as it is resistant to standard antibiotics and therefore difficult to treat.

Doctors are trying to figure out how the teen contracted the bacteria. The teen's name and condition are not known.

Port Townsend school officials said the campus will be sanitized. The gym, locker room and weight room will remain closed for the rest of the week until the areas can be thoroughly disinfected over the weekend.

MRSA thrives in a warm salty environment. Frequent hand washing and regular hygiene measures serve are cited to be effective prevention methods.

Parents in the area are urged to check their children for possible signs of the illness. Symptoms include boils or red bumps on the skin. If any of the physical symptoms are found, medical attention is required immediately.

Parents of the school who wish to keep their children at home for the rest of the week as a precaution are urged to do so. The absences will be excused.

Earlier this week senators proposed the formation of a single agency that deals with infections that occur outside hospital.

"We're here to talk about a public health issue that should scare each one of us in this country," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Officials are calling for a unified effort to educate people about the dangers of MRSA as well as prevention methods for MRSA.

Last month, researchers said it appears the staph infection is killing more Americans each year than AIDS. The government reported in its first broad look at the invasive disease that more than 90,000 Americans are sickened by it annually.

"The rate of invasive MRSA was an astounding 31.8 per 100,000," according to an editorial published with the report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

In recent years, MRSA has become more common in hospitals and it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker rooms, and in poor urban neighborhoods.

Though MRSA can be potentially deadly, medical experts said death by MRSA is a rare occurrence.

"i think the chances of any single individual who has a staph skin infection progressing to a severe life threatening disease is very very small," said Dr. John Jennigan with the Center for Disease Control.