Itch/Rash Still A Mystery

At Reed School

By Tanjua Damon

School and health officials are still unsure why students at Reed Intermediate School have been itchy for a week, but hope that the mysterious itch and rash in some cases goes away as quickly as it appeared.

A few students were still being sent home earlier this week complaining of itching, according to Principal Donna Denniston. But there have been no new cases since it all began last Wednesday.

“Yesterday [Monday, March 31], we sent four students home, but they were students who had also been sent home last week. Today [Tuesday, April 1], only one student has gone home,” Ms Denniston said. “Obviously, the parents of students who are still complaining of itching are concerned. There have been no new cases since the second day. All the students sent home Friday and this week were students who developed the itching last week and went home last week, too.”

“After Dr [Thomas] Draper and the health department looked into the situation, they determined that the cause is basically unknown. As a result, there isn’t any specific recommendation for something that we can ‘fix,’” she added. “We continue to look for any pattern but so far have found none.”

Not all the students who have complained of the itch have been sent home, but 119 girls and 22 boys have been looked at because of complaints of itching. No adults have been affected by the itch or rash, according to Newtown Health District Director Donna McCarthy.

Ms McCarthy and school medical advisor Dr Draper spent time at the school trying to figure out what could be causing the students to itch. The two have not determined what could be the culprit. Both spent time over the weekend contacting parents of children who complained of itching to see if they could find a common denominator.

Ms McCarthy explained that she did speak with the state health department as well as administrators from the Torrington School District that has had two similar incidents within the last year to see if the characteristics were the same or what suggestions they had to help remedy the issue.

“If we had an old beat up school we would be going crazy,” Ms McCarthy said. “If it happened the first day of school I would probably blame it on the new school. But students have been attending the school for three months.”

Ms McCarthy went on to say that some of the students may be having an allergic reaction because of allergies they already have and with other students it could be a sympathetic reaction. For a vast majority of the students there is no visible rash.

“They do feel itchy. It’s like yawning,” Ms McCarthy said. “Because if you are around it you react to it. I don’t think there is anything in the school that is causing this. I hope it’s on its way out.”

Dr Draper explained that he looked at several of the students who were complaining and observed scratch marks. He also stated that parents he spoke to felt the itchiness their children were experiencing was probably out of sympathy.

“An itch is predominately what we could see,” Dr Draper said. “There were few children that actually had a rash. This appears to be a temporary annoyance.”

The school has been cleaned thoroughly twice since the students began complaining of the rash a week ago. The Newtown Health District will continue to monitor the situation.