Mystery rash continues to baffle school

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http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/mysteryrash2.htm

April 2, 2002

Mystery rash continues to baffle school

The red, itchy ailment sends dozens more home from the Wixon School.

By K.C. MYERS

STAFF WRITER

DENNIS - The iel H. Wixon School's mysterious rash continued to send

students home by the dozens yesterday.

More than 100 of the 725 students were absent from the middle school, and

" several dozen " more went home during the day with the same red, itchy

irritation that forced the school to be closed Thursday, said

Dennis-Yarmouth Supt. Tony Pierantozzi.

" There were very few, if any, serious rashes today, " Pierantozzi said

yesterday.

Still, students flooded the nurses' offices with complaints of the itchy

affliction, which resembles a sunburn or hives and goes away in a day to two

weeks. It causes no serious symptoms besides discomfort.

But discomfort is disconcerting to those who keep getting the rash.

Like many of her fellow Wixon students, eighth-grader got

it for the first time last week.

On Tuesday " this child looked like boiling hot water had been poured from

her head to her toes, " said Cheryl , her mother. " The nurse at school

was baffled. She said it's the worst she had seen. It was just unbelievable

when I picked her up. "

was sent home again with a less serious case yesterday.

" I certainly don't want to send my daughter back, " said.

A note to parents stated that there were no environmental problems with the

school.

" But then why do they have it again, if there is nothing wrong with the

school? " asked.

When 48 students went home with the rash Wednesday, officials closed the

school Thursday for disinfecting and tests for environmental toxins. None

were found, according to the Barnstable Department of Health & Environment.

The air and water quality also tested at normal levels.

Since the school's environment received a clean bill of health, the

superintendent decided to open the school and keep it open, despite

yesterday's complaints.

Students who had been fine over the extended Easter weekend complained of

getting the rash once they returned to school yesterday.

No one is any closer to finding a cause.

No doubt, part of the scratching is psychosomatic, Pierantozzi said. And

part of the reports could be from students who want to get out of school.

But teachers are taking each case seriously. Anyone who shows signs of the

rash is dismissed immediately to keep them isolated from the others.

Seventh-grader Ventola said " there were a big bunch of backpacks in

front of the nurses' offices " as students with the rash waited to be picked

up to go home.

Ventola said only 12 of the 22 students in her homeroom were in school

yesterday.

The outbreak continues to follow a pattern reported at schools in 14 states

around the country since October. Anywhere from 10 to several hundred

students in an elementary or middle school break out in a rash. Schools

close, get cleaned and tested, then reopen. No matter what, the rash

continues for two weeks to two months. Then it fades.

" It pretty much went away, " said Scanlon, superintendent of the

Quakertown Community School District in Pennsylvania.

The rash spread to 250 students in nine schools in his district from Jan. 31

to March 9. The first outbreak hit 54 students at Richland Elementary School

on Jan. 31. It spread for about two weeks, then began to fade - but slowly.

By March 9, the number of cases dropped to only about four a day, Scanlon

said.

It " ran its course " in 24 to 72 hours at an elementary school in Connecticut

in late February, according to the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention in Atlanta.

The CDC, which studied the outbreak in Pennsylvania for two weeks, could not

find the cause, Scanlon said. A CDC spokeswoman said there's not even enough

evidence to confirm if all the outbreaks are the same rash.

" It seems to be time-sensitive, " Pierantozzi said. " It's self-limiting. That

is, over time, it goes away. "

There are other isolated cases, but no other outbreaks on the Cape,

according to Dr. Bourne of the Barnstable County Department of

Health.