Mystery Rash With Fever Plagues Schools in Virginia

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Mystery Rash With Fever Plagues

14 County Schools In Virginia

By Louis Cannon

PatomacNews.com

11-30-1

 

- http://www.rense.com/general17/mysteryrash.htm -

A mysterious skin rash that popped up in a Manassas

middle school last week has also been found at 13

other schools throughout the county, plaguing more

than 350 students and staff members.

 

Superintendent Edward Kelly said the 28 new cases of

an itchy skin irritation in 13 county schools Thursday

adds to the frustration of finding out what is causing

the rashes at Marsteller Middle School.

 

About 161 Marsteller Middle School students

experienced rashes and fevers Thursday, bringing the

total to 329 cases at the Manassas school in the last

two weeks.

 

Despite the new cases, Kelly said all schools will be

open today.

 

School and health officials believe the rashes at

Marsteller Middle School may be the final stages of

fifth disease, a mild illness common in school

outbreaks, after one student was diagnosed with the

disease Tuesday.

 

However, an experienced school nurse who has examined

more than 100 students with red, itchy skin on

Thursday is saying no way.

 

" I have seen two rashes that resemble the fifth. But

in a bulk of the children, I don't see the fifth, "

said Debbie Midkiff, a school nurse who has 21 years

in the profession.

 

The new cases at Marsteller Middle School came in

Thursday morning, just like every morning at the

school since Nov. 20. And by 1:30 p.m., the school's

main office was flooded with parents coming in to pick

up their fevered and itching children.

 

" I think they should close down, because they don't

know what it is. In these times of terrorism and

anthrax, we just don't know, " said Angela Simmons, a

parent who was picking up her son.

 

For the second time in two weeks, the school was

closed Wednesday after more than 100 students and

staff members experienced skin rashes and low-grade

fevers Tuesday.

 

One student was diagnosed with fifth disease Tuesday,

prompting school and health officials to order blood

tests on affected students and staff members to see if

the disease was the culprit. The blood-test results

were not available Thursday.

 

Fifth disease is common in children who typically

experience a sometimes itchy rash on the cheek, limbs

and trunk. A low-grade fever, malaise or cold symptoms

may accompany the rash, according to the National

Center for Infectious Diseases.

 

During a school outbreak, 60 percent of the school

population may get the disease. The rash symptoms on a

child are the last stage of the disease and indicate

that the contagious period is over, according to

center documentation. The disease is called fifth

disease because it is the fifth most common childhood

rash.

 

Kelly said that a teacher at Henderson Elementary in

Montclair was diagnosed with fifth disease last week.

One student at that school was sent home Thursday,

complaining of a red, itchy skin irritation.

 

The news of rashes first appeared at Marsteller Middle

School on Nov. 20, when 30 students experienced the

mysterious skin irritation, prompting environmental

health and hazardous materials crews to inspect the

school for any substance that could be causing the

rashes.

 

Finding nothing after a series of surface and air

tests, health officials did not recommend closing the

school. However, school officials decided to close the

school Nov. 21 so industrial hygienists could conduct

further tests for mold and dust mites.

 

Those tests also found nothing in the school's

environment that could be causing the outbreak.

 

One student at Bennett Elementary, located near

Manassas, went home early Wednesday after experiencing

a rash. On Thursday, three more students were sent

home.

 

Principal Graham Spencer said he spoke with a doctor

who examined one of the students: " The doctor said it

wasn't what is happening at Marsteller because the

same doctor has seen kids at Marsteller. "

 

" We are frustrated, " said Kelly. " Some doctors are

saying it's viral, other are saying it's

environmental. "

 

One parent, who did not wish to give his name, was

picking his son up from Marsteller Middle School on

Thursday after his son experienced a skin rash for the

second time in two weeks.

 

" We took him to the doctor last week, and [the doctor]

said he has the symptoms of something he inhaled, " he

said. The man said his son had fifth disease when he

was younger, making him immune to the disease.

 

Because the cause of the rash remains unknown, Simmons

said her son will not return to school. " They close

the school and then the kids come back and then it

starts all over again, " she said. " All these rashes

are caused by something. " " I do think it's weird and I

have concerns, but it sounds like they're doing all

they can right now, " said Kathy Dove, a parent who was

picking her son up from Marsteller on Thursday

afternoon because of a fever and rash.

 

Dove said her son came down with a rash last week as

well, but is not too worried. " They aren't coming down

with something deadly, " she said.

 

 

Link

 

 

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Virginia Middle School Rash Is A Medical Puzzle

By Christina A. Samuels and Leef Smith

Washington Post Staff Writers

11-30-1

 

Marsteller Middle School students are coming down with

a mysterious rash that still has medical officals

looking for answers.

 

Three nurses sit in the Marsteller Middle School

library, taking the temperature of dozens of students

complaining of a red, itchy rash on their arms, legs,

chests or backs. A steady trickle of parents arrives

at the Manassas school, picking up sick kids in the

middle of the day.

 

In the last 10 days, one-third of the 940-member

student body has been ill, and the biggest number yet

in one day - 161 - got sick yesterday.

 

And still, no one knows what's causing the illness, or

how to stop it. Viral syndromes, allergic reactions or

contact dermatitis from something in the air are all

theories from the medical experts, said Principal

Karen Poindexter. But as health officials, doctors and

school staff members scour the information they have

gathered, there's no evidence yet that proves one

theory over another.

 

" There are answers the parents want, and we just

cannot give it to them, " Poindexter said. " We don't

have enough information. "

 

School officials plan to open Marsteller today. Unlike

previous days, children were not sent home yesterday

if they had a temperature under 100, though some

parents chose to pick their children up anyway,

Poindexter said.

 

" I think they're trying, " said parent Sandy Hedrick,

who took her 14-year-old daughter, Katie, home early.

" It's been a week now, so you think they'd know what

it is by now. "

 

Katie, an eighth-grader, said she can't figure it out

either.

 

" I don't know. Some people are saying that people put

itching powder in the vents, " she said. " There's a lot

of people talking in the halls. "

 

The outbreak, even with its mild symptoms, is

occurring at a time when parents are already on edge

about possible environmental dangers or contaminants.

 

More serious illnesses were quickly ruled out, said

Superintendent Edward L. Kelly. Something like

anthrax, for instance, " has never been considered,

simply because you don't have any kind of anthrax

symptoms at all. "

 

The illness first appeared in about 40 students two

days before Thanksgiving, prompting the first

unscheduled closure Nov. 21 while school officials

brought in a company to conduct environmental testing.

The school was cleaned, the tests came back negative,

and the Health Department declared the school safe to

reopen.

 

However, on Monday, 20 more students came down with

the unexplained illness. On Tuesday, 114 students and

four staff members got sick. Administrators closed the

school again Wednesday to allow additional tests and,

some hoped, to allow the outbreak to run its course.

 

The halls, showers and lockers have been disinfected

by custodial workers. Air filters have been replaced.

Health officials have checked with janitors to see

whether anything new is being used in the cleaning

supplies. Nothing suspicious has turned up. And

although the school was again declared fit to open,

yesterday was the worst day so far.

 

A working theory in the early days of the outbreak was

that the rash and fever were caused by a mild

childhood illness called fifth disease, which starts

with a low fever and produces a red rash, most often

on the cheeks. One child is known to have tested

positive for the illness.

 

" I think we may have fifth disease, but we may have

something else " viral, said Jared Florance, Prince

William County's health director. " Or it could be an

allergic reaction. We have one kid with poison ivy. We

just don't have the information to say what it is or

isn't. "

 

Prince William Health Department officials said they

have not called on the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention for help in identifying the illness.

Rather, Florance's office has asked the state's

regional epidemiology expert to help it sort through

the clues.

 

Health officials said it's not uncommon for viruses to

spread quickly among dense student populations. That's

because viruses such as fifth disease are so easily

transmitted. Last winter, scarlet fever spread across

the Washington region in just two weeks in January,

with cases in 38 schools in Prince George's County

alone.

 

Marsteller, which is part of the Prince William school

system, was built in 1963. Earl Tester, environmental

health supervisor for the Prince William County health

district, said his staff is evaluating janitorial

supplies and anything else that might have been a

contact agent for the rash.

 

" We went through all of that, " Tester said. " Nothing

had changed. No work was being done on the building or

equipment. The chemicals, cleaners, polishes and

washes are all the same that they've used before. "

 

One twist is that the rash appears to flare up when

students are actually in Marsteller, then subsides

when they go home.

 

Ariel Taylor, 13, an eighth-grader, had the rash on

her back Tuesday. On Thursday, it was on her arms, and

she left school early.

 

" Most kids, they don't want to be touched by someone

else who has the rash because they're afraid they're

going to get it, " she said. " I just think it's kind of

gross. "

 

Mary Schmidt, a pediatric and adult infectious disease

specialist at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children,

said that the problem sounds viral but that she's not

convinced that fifth disease is to blame.

 

That's because fifth disease is known for producing a

flat, lacy rash. What doctors are seeing on many of

the Marsteller students is a rash made up of little

red bumps.

 

Schmidt said the symptoms more closely resemble those

of an enterovirus, the second most common virus that

infects humans, behind rhinoviruses, which are the

" common cold " viruses.

 

" I look forward to seeing what they finally come up

with, " Schmidt said. So does Terri Taylor, Ariel's

mother.

 

" The kids were out of school five days, and you come

back to school and they still have the problem, "

Taylor said. " They really need to get to the bottom of

this. "

 

 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

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Patricia Doyle, PhD

http://goddess-of-fire.tripod.com/index-1.html

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