SKOWHEGAN -- Two inmates at the Somerset County Jail are in isolation with what may be a Methicillin-resistant bacterial infection.

MRSA infections are caused by strains of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (or staph) that are highly resistant to common antibiotics. Such infections can be life-threatening, although in most cases they are treatable.

The two inmates were diagnosed with what appears to be a bacterial infection late Friday and after being treated at a local hospital are now back at the jail, according to Captain Stephen Giggey, jail administrator.

While they are being isolated as if they have an MRSA infection, that diagnosis could not be confirmed Tuesday.

Staphylococcus bacteria is very common, with about 25 to 30 percent of people carrying it on their skin or in their noses without suffering any ill effects. MRSA is much less common, with about 1 percent of people carrying it. Healthy people can carry the bacteria without any ill effects.

State health officials say they have no evidence of a MRSA outbreak at the jail. An outbreak is a situation in which MRSA is spread from person to person within a given population.

Giggey said it is not uncommon for an inmate to have an infection when they are first incarcerated at the jail.

If two or more inmates at the jail have the infection but all acquired it before they were incarcerated, that would not be considered an outbreak.

Giggey said his jail officers have become accustomed to coping with the infections, using disinfectants to wipe down surfaces once a week as a preventive measure and isolating infected individuals.

One challenge faced by the jail is a lack of space, however.

The 100-year-old jail is overcrowded, with few cells where an inmate can be isolated.

Giggey said the two inmates that may have MRSA are now sharing the same cell.

The county is building a $30 million correctional facility, which is due to open in the fall. That facility will have areas where inmates with infections can be better isolated and treated.

Geoff Beckett, assistant state epidemiologist with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that while MRSA was once something that occurred mostly in hospitals or health care institutions, it is now common in the wider community.

Jails, with a large rotating population where inmates are often in close contact with each other, are at particular risk.

"Jails are places where outbreaks have occurred frequently," said Beckett.

MRSA infections can cause serious health problems, including wound infections, pneumonia or bloodstream infections.

While MRSA infections are resistant to many common antibiotics, most are treatable.

Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342

acrowell@centralmaine.com