[OK]

This seems way too mild for smallpox. Maybe cooties?

[Snerdley]

Charter pipeline sucks. I can't get washington post to come up. Can you quote a little of the story? tia!

[spunkets]

Nah, it's been there for a week. It's a reaction to a chemical in the school. It goes away if they leave.

Could be they're allergic to one, or 2 of the deans.

[Random Access]

Rash Limbaugh?

[Cool Guy]

I totally understand that we have to well informed, but causing panic among the public is not going to help the matter in anyway and it would have made the Terrorists achive one of their primary goals. If the people in charge have everything under control, then I do not have a problem with this situation.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Wonder if there's new carpeting in the building? Or if the HVAC system has been cleaned recently?

[vannrox]

"...What doctors are seeing on many of the Marsteller students is a rash made up of little red bumps..."

Penetration is usually through the respiratory tract and local lymph nodes and then the virus enters the blood (primary viremia).


Internal organs are infected; then the virus reenters the blood (secondary viremia) and spreads to the skin. (As a rash).


These events occur during the incubation period, when the patient is still well.


Smallpox is characterised in its classical form by the sudden onset of fever, headache, backache, vomiting, marked prostration and even delirium. At this early stage the patient may be very ill and compelled to take to his bed. Early in the illness there may appear in about 10% of patients a fleeting rash in the form of a reddening of the skin, not unlike the rash of German Measles. This is the so-called prodromal rash and, in the absence of a history of exposure to a source of infection, there is nothing about htis rash to arouse suspicion of smallpox. The incubation period from exposure to the onset of this feverish illness is nearly always 12 days with very little variation either way.


About two to three days after the onset of illness the true smallpox rash appears. At this time any prodromal rash will be fading. This true or so-called focal rash is normally diagnostic of smallpox and is characteristic both in its evolution and distribution on the body. It begins as tiny discrete pink spots, macules, which enlarge and become slightly raised papules. Each of these progresses by the third day to become a tense blister, vesicle, 6mm in diameter, deep in the skin. After two more days the fluid inside becomes turbid and the lesions are not described as pustules or by the older term of pocks. In the following days these shrink and dry up to become hard lentil-like crusts ni the skin. Eventually they separate leaving a sunken scar. The hard material which comes away contains smallpox virus in its substance


The distribution of this focal rash is characteristic, affecting the head and extremeties much more than the trunk. These features make classical smallpox easy to diagnose clinically when once the thought of the disease has entered the mind.


Mild smallpox naturally occuring - or more likely modified in this direction by residual immunity resulting from an old vaccination - also presents great difficulties in clinical diagnosis, so much so that it was described by one witness as "the clinicians nightmare". For example, a patient with only a single skin lesion on the wrist caused an outbreak of smallpox involving some 40 patients and several deaths in 1973. The extreme form of this modification is known as variola sine eruptione in which no rash follows the onset of illness. Even those patients may very occasionally be infectious through droplets from the mouth.


There is no treatment recognised as effective once the illness has started. Depending on the strain, 1% - 30% mortality is likely.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

There was another thread about this, and I will throw my thoughts into the diagnosis theories. What about Cox-Sackie. It has been a warm fall. CS comes from canine feces decaying in soil. Symptoms include a rash, fever, malaise. The article is not clear...does the rash represent itself in the same child after the child returns to school? If so, then environmental factors, cafeteria items, soaps in the restrooms, etc. need all be examined.

[SarahW]

This sounds EXACTLY like what my son and I had around halloween.

THe doctor thought MAYBE fifth disease, but the rash wasn't "right". My son had a high fever, tummy trouble, and developed a rash on his cheeks and chest and arms. I had a lower fever, tummy trouble, and a very pronounced rash on my face - the rash for both of us was not "flat and lacy" but looked more like contact dermatitis; i.e. little red bumps, some of them weepy.

FWIW I am in Richmond, not so far away from these folks.

No fever in my child has ever scared me more - smallpox was looming large in my mind at the time.

[deport]

A few other articles on the subject over the past few days..... ALL FROM HERE....

---

WJLA  

Tuesday November 20 07:00 PM EST

Classes Cancelled After Skin Irritation Hits Students

Students at Marsteller Middle School will get an extended Thanksgiving holiday, after a strange incident today.

Prince William County school authorities say about 30 kids at the Manassas school had skin irritation, itching and redness. All were treated at the school and none went to the hospital. But just what caused the problem remains a mystery.

So tomorrow, the 940 students, plus their teachers, are being given the day off, while tests are done to try and figure out the cause. However, school system spokeswoman Irene Cromer says they don't think there is anything in the building.

Twelve-month employees at Marsteller will have to work tomorrow, unless they had previously arranged leave.

Copyright 2001 ABC 7 WJLA-TV

---

WJLA  

Tuesday November 27 08:05 PM EST

Mystery Skin Irritation Strikes Again

A mysterious skin irritation has once again hit a school in Manassas.

Today, 114 students and four staffers at Marsteller Middle School were affected. The symptoms -- irritation, itching and redness -- are very similar to what happened last Tuesday, when about 30 youths were affected.

Marsteller will be closed to students tomorrow, though faculty and staff should report to work.

Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Irene Cromer says one student was confirmed to have Fifth Disease. The Centers for Disease Control says that is a mild rash that occurs most commonly in children, and is often preceded by a cold or low-grade fever.

No one had to be hospitalized today.

More tests will be done at the school tomorrow, in addition to the ones performed last week.

Copyright 2001 ABC 7 WJLA-TV 

---

WJLA  

Thursday November 29 09:37 AM EST

Classes To Resume at Rash-Stricken School

Classes will resume tomorrow at a Manassas school where more than a hundred people have come down with a mysterious skin irritation.

Students at Marsteller Middle School were told to stay home today after the mystery ailment turned up yesterday for the third time in eight days. Irene Cromer with the Prince William County Public Schools says there's still no word on what's causing the problems.

Marsteller has 950 students and about 90 teachers and other staffers.

Principal Karen Poindexter says no one has been hospitalized, and everyone's symptoms are mild and are being treated with ointments and antihistamines.

Copyright 2001 ABC 7 WJLA-TV

---

[aristeides]

Fortunately this disease doesn't sound particularly serious, but schools are one of the classic ways for infectious diseases to spread. Another reason for home schooling.

[Nita Nupress]

There's no way this is smallpox. Smallpox rash doesn't "come and go" like this seems to be doing. And the rash appears on the oral mucosa, not just on the skin.

[Nita Nupress]

Also, antibodies can be detected in the blood by the sixth day of rash. You CAN'T tell me that none of these students have been tested for it by now.

[meridia]

Indexing

[Salvation]

Allergies? I know one of the schools in my town has mold in it. Teachers and students get sick every winter.

[Croooow]

If this were the work of terrorists, they would hit a big government building, not some random high school (yes I realize it is a government school but come on).

[IRtorqued]

first the anthrax scare with shouts of smallpox let the pandemonium begin.

[The Game Hen]

Hopefully they have ruled out Scarlet fever. Here in Charleston, SC we have had the same thing in our schools.

A month ago I took my 7-year-old to the pediatrician because she had a rash and low fever. Dr. was convinced she had fifths but I asked him to check her for strep because her best friend had strep. He was shocked when the test came back positive. He said it doesn't look like a strep rash/scarlet fever. I talked to the school nurse and she told me she had seen an epidemic of kids with rashes. I suggested she urge parents to test for strep because they need antibiotics.

The weird thing was my 11 year old got it from her sister weeks ago. Her rash went away but now it has come back this week. Maybe she has had fifths and strep?

[mostlyundecided]

Could be mold problem in school building. Happened here in Michigan.
Black Mold Closes Romeo School

Health Effects
If Stachybotrys chartarum spores are released into the air, there is a potential for humans to develop symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, runny nose, irritated eyes or throat, skin rash, or diarrhea. There are a few reports in the scientific literature of improvement of symptoms when people left an area where SC (Croft, Johanning) or other molds (Auger) were found, or after moldy materials were removed from a dwelling or workplace.

Stachybotrys chartarum (SC) is a greenish black fungus that grows on material with a high cellulose and low nitrogen content, such as fiberboard, gypsum board, paper, dust, and lint, that becomes chronically moist or water damaged due to excessive humidity, water leaks, condensation, water infiltration, or flooding. No one knows how often this fungus is found since buildings are not routinely tested for its presence. However, one study in Southern California found it in 2.9% of 68 homes (Kozak). S. chartarum may (under specific environmental conditions) produce several toxic chemicals called mycotoxins. These chemicals are present on the spores and the small fungus fragments that are released into the air. Although spores and other parts of this fungus are usually trapped in a wet, slimy mass of fungal growth, many health officials are concerned that spores may become airborne when the fungus dies and dries up. Because S. chartarum spores are very small, some may be drawn into the lungs when airborne spores are inhaled.

Prevention of Mold in Dwellings: As part of routine building maintenance, buildings should be inspected for evidence of water damage and visible mold. Conditions causing mold (such as water leaks, condensation, infiltration, or flooding) should be corrected.

[patriciaruth]

In more normal times, one would confidently consider Fifth Disease as a likely diagnosis due to the time of the year. Rash generally lasts about six weeks; it's probably viral but because nobody every got really sick with it, not enough research was done to find out the specific etiology or develop a test to diagnose it.