A report published in Eurosurveillance found that an inflatable bouncy castle was the epicenter for a MRSA outbreak in Dublin involving 48 children. CIDRAP has the news.

The report describes an outbreak of CA-MRSA infections involving children aged 5 to 16 years. All but one of these children attended a party on an intermittently rainy day that included inflatable play structures, including three bouncy castles. All of the 47 children who attended the party played in the bouncy castles, and 19 told investigators they had spent more than four hours in them.

One infected child didn’t attend the party but had close, sustained contact with a child who was at the party and had symptoms. All of the case-patients reported skin or other soft-tissue symptoms such as spots, pustules, and blisters. All sought medical attention and four ended up hospitalized.

All of the bacteria from 22 case-patients came from the same MRSA strain and produced the same toxin that can make staph infections more severe. The outbreak was contained through treatment, decolonization of household contacts, and communication with the company that provided the bouncy castles.