US Medical Sleuths Try To Figure Out Mysterious Rash

Ananova ^ | 2-16-2002

[blam]

US medical sleuths try to figure out mysterious rash

Hundreds of youngsters in at least seven US states have broken out in mysterious rashes.

Health investigators suspect it might be caused by a new or yet-to-be-identified virus.

The red, itchy rash appears to be more an annoyance than a serious health threat, but it has managed to temporarily close schools.

Students in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state have complained about rashes on the face, arms, legs and body. For the most part, the rash goes away when the students leave school.

"For something like this to occur almost simultaneously in different parts of the country is, to my knowledge, unprecedented," said Dr Norman Sykes, who examined about 30 suburban Philadelphia students who came down with the rash this month.

In the Quakertown Community School District, where nearly 170 students at all nine schools are confirmed to have the rash, an environmental company collected air and water samples and examined carpets, floor mats, vacuum bags and clothing, but all tested negative for contaminants.

Most school systems have ruled out an environmental cause, but not the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor, Washington, where more than 50 students and teachers complained about a rash.

Test results showed an abnormally high level of dust, dandruff and skin particles - probably caused by an overactive ventilation system that took too much moisture out of the air.

"People are very concerned about their children," said Peninsula Superintendent Jim Coolican, who does not suspect a virus. "We say it's not a long-term problem, but people say, 'How do you know? How do you know it won't be a problem for my child 10 years from now?'"

Dr Suzanne Jenkins, of the Virginia Department of Health, also suspects a virus as yet unknown by science. The virus probably lives in the gastrointestinal tract, and can be spread by coughing, sneezing or failing to wash one's hands after using the bathroom, the epidemiologist said.

Story filed: 11:25 Saturday 16th February 2002

[Seeking the truth]

Another Invasion of the Body Snatchers Alert?

[eno_]

Probably allergies, which would also explain why several kids at the same school get it - they were exposed to the same stuff. If it responds to spray-on Benedryl, it's an allergic reaction. This is also consistent with the "not washing hands" thing mentioned in the article. That is how a allergic rash gets on you face and body.

[DainBramage]

Cooties

[hgro]

They had better be checking the food being served in the lunch programs. There is probably some element in some food being served the kids that is causing an allergic reaction.

[hgro]

You beat me by three minutes!! I cannot eat cashews - they cause exactly the reaction being described.

[DonQ]

Happens at school, symptoms stop when the kids leave school ... sounds like a sensitivity to some product being sold institutionally. Worth finding out if all those school districts thought they had a bargain with institutional size packages of heating filters, floor cleaners, etc.

[Neets]

Could it be??? Prune burgers on school lunch menus?

[ppaul]

Another good reason to remove your children from the public schools now.
As if there weren't plenty of other good reasons already.

[Mako_Shark_Attack]

Sounds like the effects of tobacco smoke to me. Maybe the smoke is escaping from the teacher's lounge and causing this havoc? To ensure this doesn't happen again, ALL smoking must be banned in ALL schools, public and private.

[sarcasm]

And some rashes were not rashes at all — high-school students rubbed themselves with sandpaper in a futile attempt to have the school shut down, he said.

[maestro]

Your#5)
They had better be checking the food being served in the lunch programs. There is probably some element in some food being served the kids that is causing an allergic reaction.

You are 100% Correct.

Food= solids and liquids, packaged snacks, juice, milk, salt & pepper, SUGARS (solid/liquid), not to forget additives used in food preparation/cooking/baking.

Also, ALL 'cleaning' solutions (soaps) for kitchen utensils/pots/pans.
Not to forget packages/containers, (cardboard boxes, metal & plastic) used for storage.
Yet, may include 'faulty/gases/liquids' in NEW refrigeration units.
LEAKS??

[Ditter]

You are probably right, Cooties! I'll bet the art of making 'cootie catchers' has completely died out amoung kids today. I'll see if I remember how to make them & teach my grandchildren. "Hang on kids, Grandma is riding to the rescue!"

[The Raven]

Many years ago...I was on company "field duty" and broke out in a rash. Turned out my co-workers also had it.

We eventually figured out when we slept in a different hotel---it went away.

We figured the sheets had not been rinsed properly.

[Demidog]

10 - 1 it's a milk allergy.

[eno_]

This is the kind of thing that "just happens" sometimes. Last year, in the dead of winter, I got a rash like I had just weed-whacked a field of poison ivy naked. Maybe I put on a tee shirt that had not been washed properly? Never figured out what it was, but oral and spray-on dipenhyrdamine took care of it. If you let a rash like that go without taking anything for it, it can takes weeks to clear up. Some people react to badly rinsed laundry. The soap would not bother them normally, but a few days of clothes with soap residue and your skins says "OK, I give up."

[codder too]

Wonder if there was a mass mailing of free samples of detergent or fabric softeners in the states mentioned?

[hgro]

What you say is true but it wouldn't happen to so many kids in numerous schools at the same time. What they have in common is food supplied under government feeding programs. Lets face it, there are a lot of scurrilous people in the food business that use "additives" that could easily cause allergic reactions in a lot of kids.

[Free the USA]

Psychosomatic

[DonQ]

I kinda doubt it's tobacco smoke, simply because lots of these kids go home to parents who smoke and don't have symptoms there.

I suspect there is something related to the institutional nature of schools; these are schools in Virginia and northward, maybe it's because the buildings crank up the heat (drying heat) strictly according to the calendar without regard to the actual (uncommonly warm) weather, and that the sort of heating they have in school buildings is different (maybe drier, more stifling) than what they'd have at home.