INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Another case of antibiotic-resistant staph infection has been diagnosed at an Indiana school, boosting the number of school-related cases statewide to at least 14, officials said Wednesday.

A staff member at Northwest High School in Indianapolis was infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), said Indianapolis Public Schools spokeswoman Kim Hooper. Four other cases were reported at four other schools in the district, she said.

Muncie schools Superintendent Marlin Creasy said Wednesday that one student at Northside Middle School also had been treated for MRSA.

Lake Central High School in northern Indiana also reported a case, sending a note home with parents on Tuesday warning that a student had been diagnosed. The school planned disinfections as a precaution.

Two students in southern Indiana and two in the Fort Wayne area recently were diagnosed with the staph infections, which are resistant to front-line antibiotics. Two students in Richmond and one in Brown County are also said to have been infected with the so-called "superbug."

A Marion County Jail inmate also reported having contracted it.

MRSA does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person.

The MRSA strain and other staph infections have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, health and education officials have said.

The current rash of cases may be related to the fact that the infections have been in the news, experts said.

"There's really not much new," said Dr. Christopher Belcher, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis.

"This has been a problem that's been increasing in prevalence over the last seven to 10 years and really what's new here is the public awareness of it."

MRSA, pronounced Muhr-suh, has been around for decades and in recent years has spread to schools, prisons and crowded public housing projects. Even healthy people can carry it on their skin. It may look like a pimple or spider bite that doesn't heal, but it can turn deadly if it enters the bloodstream or morphs into a flesh-eating wound.

A recent government report estimated the bacteria causes dangerous infections that sicken more than 90,000 Americans each year and kill nearly 19,000.