Troy, Mo. (KSDK) — An impetigo outbreak at Troy Buchanan High School strikes six students and one is in the hospital. His mother says he contracted the contagious skin condition from mats at wrestling practice.

It started out as a small splotch on his neck, but two days later it spread.

“It is life changing,” said Jenifer Duggins.

Duggins said it’s the schools fault her 17-year-old son contracted a form of herpes as well as impetigo.

His throat is filled with dozens of sores, and his right eye, is covered with infection- blurring his vision.

“I want the school to wake up and take care of the kids the way they should be taken care of,” said Duggins.

Instead, Duggins says the mats carried a problem. she suspects they weren’t cleaned often. Now six students have come down with similar symptoms, and all of them are on the wrestling team.

“I want the coaches to pay attention,” said Duggins.

The school says its not possible for anyone to catch anything here, especially since these mats are disinfected daily.

“We also mandate that the wrestlers shower after practice with a cleanser, which is a germicide,” said Community Relations Specialist, April Bryant.

Bryant said skin-to-skin contact didn’t help the situation, but insists the school was doing its part before this happened and will continue to do so.

“We’ve implemented a pandemic cleaning procedure that we have in our crisis plan, just to be on the safe side,” said Bryant.

Duggins’s son won’t return to the mat. Doctors said there’s no guarantee his vision will return either.

Duggins said the prognosis for her son isn’t clear right now. the school said the students who were infected will not be allowed to return to the mat until they are cleared by a doctor.

KSDK