(WSBT) Staph infections are most commonly associated with hospitals, but now more and more people are getting the infection outside of hospitals and nursing homes, including at schools, prisons and fitness clubs.

A local teenager has had flare-ups of the infection twice in three months. Now, her family wants to spread the word. The teen's family isn't sure where she got the infection, but they have to deal with the effects.

The teen did not want to be identified or shown, mostly because of the unsightly impact of an infection she first got three months ago.

“She ended up with a big boil on her chin,” said the teen’s mother, Jennifer. “It swelled up really bad, the whole side of her face swelled up.”

She recovered, but just last week, it flared up again.

“She started screaming she couldn't see,” Jennifer said. “She had like a boil on her forehead, it went to her one eye and it was swollen shut. And then Saturday, it went to both eyes.”

The family doesn't know for sure where she first picked up the infection.

A number of students at schools across the country have come down with the infection in recent months.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the infection can be spread by close skin-to-skin contact; openings in the skin, such as cuts; contaminated items and surfaces; crowded living conditions; and poor hygiene.

The family is working to decontaminate the house before she comes home.

“Now we're all getting treated for it,” said Jennifer. “We all have to swab our noses and wash with a special soap, which we're all doing it.”

Doctors say healthy people commonly carry the staph bacteria, but only a small amount is dangerous.

The family says the school may have been a possible place she picked up the infection. School officials in Mishawaka say there have been no reports of that and they take every precaution to prevent spread of the infection.

The family wants the teen to stay in the hospital until the infection is fully controlled. They hope that will be in the next few days.