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Fire Academy Grads Immortalize 'MRSA' Outbreak with T-Shirts

By Katie Honan | November 25, 2014 7:32am
 The superbug forced a massive scrubdown of the Randall's Island facility in August and September and "MRSAnaries" shirts were distributed among the class. 
The superbug forced a massive scrubdown of the Randall's Island facility in August and September and "MRSAnaries" shirts were distributed among the class. 
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DNAinfo

RANDALL'S ISLAND — New firefighters are wearing commemorative T-shirts to immortalize an outbreak of the drug-resistant MRSA superbug that forced the closure of their academy and hospitalized at least one trainee, DNAinfo has learned. 

The 280 probationary firefighters who graduated Nov. 18 and joined the FDNY dubbed themselves the "MRSAnaries" who proudly "survived the outbreak," according to T-shirts made by the class.

The nickname refers to the spread of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus superbug, or MRSA, which forced more than 20 probies to temporarily leave the Randall's Island academy after becoming sick, shuttered the facility for a cleanup and forced changes to a training exercise that caused the spread of the bacteria.

 The front of the shirt declares that they "survived the outbreak."
The front of the shirt declares that they "survived the outbreak."
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DNAinfo

The design on the back of the navy blue T-shirt shows a firefighter in full gear and mask fighting off green bacteria with cans of Lysol — with plenty of cans to back him up.

A logo on the front says the second graduating class of 2014 "survived the outbreak" — which also spread among three probies in the first class of 2014, which graduated in June. 

A spokesman for the FDNY said the shirts were made by the students and weren't distributed by the department.

"They make the shirts themselves and they're for the probie class," FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer said.

Of the 22 firefighters who had to temporarily leave the academy, 13 had confirmed cases of MRSA and nine had possible cases of the infection, FDNY officials said in August.

At least one was hospitalized, officials said. The FDNY would not say if any of the sickened probies couldn't graduate because of the illness. 

Commissioner Daniel Nigro also ordered a change in the training exercises that have caused probies to cut themselves — injuries that led to the vast majority of the stubborn bacterial infections, which were first reported by DNAinfo.