Mystery Outbreak Closes School Again

November 26, 2002
By DOUGLAS P. GUARINO, Norwich Bulletin

SALEM -- Salem School will be closed for the remainder of the week as health officials try to determine the cause of a mysterious rash and breathing difficulties experienced by some students and staff.

School officials informed some 150 parents at the Gardner Lake Fire Department of several possible causes of the outbreak. Most involve damp conditions that have led to mold growth in various places.

All of the possible causes, which include everything from moldy ceiling tiles and a lack of adequate ventilation to standing water in a crawl space under the school and in the kindergarten playground, will be investigated within the next few days.

The school reopened briefly Monday after an industrial hygienist recommended late Sunday night that the school most likely was safe for students despite some concern about the moldy ceiling tiles. The school's floors, walls, furniture and ventilation system all had been thoroughly cleaned during the weekend.

The middle school wing of the building had been shut down Friday in reaction to an outbreak of rashes Thursday. School nurse Lynne Cole said the first reports of rash came as early as Nov. 8.

Students were dismissed around noontime Monday after another, more severe outbreak occurred. At least 79 students experienced some form of rash and breathing difficulties. Seventeen were transported to either The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich or Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London. In addition, five staff members were reported to have symptoms.

Interim Superintendent Leonard Lanza said some students experienced symptoms within five minutes of entering the building. He said all the symptoms subsided shortly after the students left the building.

Hal Berto, health director for Salem, Sprague and Franklin, recommended the search for a cause of the outbreak be expanded into the surrounding community. He said some citizens who had never been inside the school had reported similar symptoms.

"You need to ask yourself what has changed over the past few weeks," Berto told parents.

Berto said the district would be sending parents of affected students a questionnaire on everything from what their children had for breakfast to what hair care products they use in an attempt to help narrow the possible causes.

Greta Getty-Echard, whose 13-year-old daughter, Victoria, is an eighth-grader at the school, said that when she arrived to pick up her daughter Monday, the school was surrounded by fire trucks and rescue crews and that some students had oxygen masks over their faces.

"It's frightening," she said.

Victoria, along with her two friends Colleen Dolan and Katie Cikatz, also 13, experienced rashes for the first time Monday. All three returned to normal after Getty-Echard drove them home and gave them Benadryl.

"It's kind of scary," Dolan said.

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