Dear Pennypacker Resident:

After reading the Crimson opinion piece from October 22, 2007, “I’ve
Got an Itch”, it seems worthwhile to review where things stand after
the incidents of skin complaints two weekends ago at Pennypacker.

At that time, three individuals came to university health services
(UHS) with similar symptoms. After being evaluated by a physician at
After Hours Urgent Care, the possibility of scabies was considered.
Discussion with proctors at Pennypacker revealed that there were at
least 5 or 6 students at Pennypacker with itching skin and rash, though
only three of them wished to be examined.

Given the symptoms, also under consideration was the possibility of bed
bugs, though the skin findings were not classic for this diagnosis. A
scraping from the skin of one student was done to look for mites, but
these were not seen. It’s important to note the presence of mites on a
skin scraping absolutely confirms the diagnosis of scabies; if they are
absent, though, the diagnosis is not excluded. Frequently, the
diagnosis of scabies is difficult to make, and it takes several
examinations of a patient over time before other possibilities are
excluded. This is because the rash associated with scabies can be
fairly non-specific, and the “burrows” are often not seen.

But the three students’ rashes had cleared up within three days, leading an entomologist to speculate that scabies was not to blame:

Four days later, Dr. Michael Alpert, an entomologist from the Harvard School of
Public Health came to Pennypacker and talked to three symptomatic
individuals and concluded that scabies was unlikely, given the rapid
clearing. He speculated that the causative bug could have been
mosquitoes, though he never saw the bites when they were present. The
physician who did see the bites, said that the appearance of the bites
was not consistent with mosquitoes, and that their locations on the skin
was more consistent with scabies. As is frequently the case with rashes,
the simple symptoms can lead to a variety of diagnosis, and it
is often difficult to tell, in the absence of definitive testing, which
one is correct.

This memo above to students was from Doctors Sohayla Gharib and Gregory Johnson of the Harvard University Health Service, who also had this to say,

If the diagnosis was not scabies, it is
possible that there was another insect involved, though it does not
appear to be bedbugs (because there are no ongoing symptoms and there
was no evidence for bed bugs when the pest control team evaluated the
dormitory), nor appear to be mosquitoes. Whatever the ultimate source,
it is now eradicated from Pennypacker thanks to your response and
cooperation.

Let’s all hope that Pennypacker is itch-free for some time to come.

Get the full story from IvyGate.

Also, here’s a Columbia University gossip blog, BWOG (put out by writers from the student magazine) alleging bed bugs are in Schapiro 12 (student housing at Columbia University):

According to Bwog,

Now that a few students have been bitten severely, Housing has finally admitted that there are bedbugs. Two rooms have been fumigated, one of them twice. Unfortunately, Housing still refuses to clean the hallway and carpet even though bedbugs can easily travel from one room to another. Housing, you’ve really let yourself go on this one…

• Johns Hopkins suggests SCRATCH method for diagnosing insect bites in kids
• Bed bugs at the College of New Jersey
• teaching doctors to diagnose bed bug bites
• FAQ: What are bed bugs? Do I have them? What else could be causing this?

ShareThis

The Bedbugger known as iphone interloper* has sent me a batch of interesting photos taken on 1st Ave. in the East Village on Saturday at 2 pm. First the photos, then the commentary:

This sequence shows some guys, wearing gloves, removing a box spring to a truck. They also took some other furniture.

What’s interesting here is that the truck is small (a pick-up) and the workers are, according to our eye witness, apparently building employees, and employees of a company that offers cleaning and maintenance services to building owners and managers (the company’s name is on the pick-up truck). In other words, it does not appear to be a routine trash pick-up, nor a move. A young man sits on a chair watching the process. Is he the owner of the items? A bystander?

Can you think of any reasons why building and contracted staff might be carefully removing a small amount of furniture from a building? It doesn’t appear to be a move, nor could it be an eviction. Might they be removing hazardous items? Keeping them away from the curb (where they might be re-cycled into another apartment, with disastrous effect)?

Just speculating. We have no idea what is going on. Maybe someone just moved out and left their stuff and the building had to get it out. But in my building, if the manager had to dispose of abandoned stuff, he’s dump it on the curb, not have it carted off.

In any case, we do note, the neighborhood is seriously infested with bed bugs.

*Ever since Bed Bug Helloise came along, folks have assumed that all new pseudonyms point to yours truly. iPhone interloper is an anonymous reader of this blog. iPhone interloper is not nobugsonme. nobugsonme, sadly, only encounters iPhones from a great distance and in the Apple Store, where they remain attached to a long security cable.

• Another way out for your bed bug-infested mattress?
• Moon Over Manhattan Madness
• Sending reinforcements? Mattresses at 5th and Broadway, NYC
• Untitled, 2007

ShareThis