Twenty Millersville University varsity football players are being treated for a drug-resistant bacterial staph infection, college officials said Wednesday.

Pat Weidinger, the university's director of safety and environmental health, said the students likely contracted the infection, known as MRSA, early this month.

"We don't know how the students got it. Someone could have picked it up somewhere and brought it to school," Weidinger said. "It started with one or two students and spread from there. But they are doing well."

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections are more difficult to treat than other staph infections because its strains do not respond well to common antibiotic treatments.

MRSA, as with other staph infections, can be spread through casual contact or through contaminated objects. Among its symptoms are skin infections such as boils, abscesses or cellulitis, CDC said.

During the last few weeks, Weidinger said, the players have been treated with three types of strong antibiotics and have returned to football practice.

The players' first symptoms were small boils or pimple-like blemishes on their skin, Weidinger said.

He said the students told the team's coaches, who directed them to student health services.

Since the MRSA infection, believed to be the first for the team, university health officials have spoken to the entire team about the importance of wound care and using antibacterial soap and antiseptic to avoid infection.

"It's not highly contagious," Weidinger said. "But we wanted to educate the entire team."

Weidinger said the varsity football locker room has been sanitized twice since the infection was discovered.

"All the equipment from the locker room has been removed twice, and it has been sterilized from top to bottom," Weidinger said.

E-mail: mpennino@lnpnews.com