Facility Cleaned After Officer Is Hospitalized for Strep

Montgomery County officials scrubbed down portions of a police training facility Sunday after an officer contracted a strep infection that has him hospitalized in critical condition.

County health officials stressed the cleaning was a precaution, and said it is unknown exactly how the officer developed the infection. Strep bacteria is typically passed through coughing or contact with skin wounds, a county health spokeswoman said.

The officer, Thomas "T.J." Bomba, 28, is in critical condition at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, a hospital spokeswoman said today. A public Web site created to update the officer's family and friends of his condition said he had developed a strep infection that turned into toxic shock syndrome.

Streptococcus bacteria itself is very common, and millions of Americans every year develop relatively mild illnesses such as strep throat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In some cases, the infections become more serious, leading to conditions such as Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. As many as 1,800 people die in the U.S. of such illnesses each year, according to the CDC.

Attempts to reach Bomba's family through the hospital spokeswoman were not successful. A police spokesman declined to comment.

Tributes to Bomba are pouring into the Web site:

"You're the strongest person we know. If anyone can beat this it's you," a friend wrote last night.

"TJ we are so stunned by what has happened to you and how such a big strong guy could be brought down by a little bacteria," a family member wrote a few hours earlier.

According to the Web site, Bomba began feeling ill on June 23. He was experiencing muscle soreness under his right arm, and soon noticed discoloration and swelling. He went to Shady Grove Hospital and was eventually moved to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

Workers thoroughly cleaned and disinfected parts of the training facility on Sunday, said Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the county's Department of Health and Human Services. The facility is part of a police and firefighting complex in Rockville.

Bomba received the department's Award for Valor in 2007, after he and officer Michael Kane responded to a reported burglary and spotted a suspect walking along Old Columbia Pike near the Fairland Library, according to the police department. Bomba ordered him to stop and ended up chasing him across a snow-covered field. The suspect made his way to a parking lot, pulling out a gun and firing it. Bomba helped take him into custody, according to police.