Mysterious Mite? Lake Forest Elementary Students Still Suffering Strange Skin Malady

LAKE FOREST, CA — It's not the size of the bug that matters, according to Orange County Vector Control. Though not yet confirmed, it is suspected that a tiny mite could be the cause of the mysterious skin irritation that has flummoxed experts to this point.

To date, one week after a mother disclosed her child's skin irritation to Lake Forest Elementary School, and the issue — along with more than 30 concurrent cases — was brought to Saddleback Unified School District's attention, OC Vector Control experts have acted like CSI workers attempting to find the cause of the mysterious bites (or rash).

"One and a half weeks ago, we determined that we were not dealing with fleas or mosquitoes," Jared Dever, spokesperson for Orange County Vector Control, said in an interview. "The common thread with the initial cases is the after-school TLC program," Dever said. "The first cluster of bite victims were found with people directly associated there."

OC Vector Control has "pretty much ruled out chemical or plant cause for the irritant, due to the number of individuals exposed, and the exact same kind of reaction to exposure," Dever said.

Based on parent reporting of physicians' statements on the multiple skin afflictions, per Tammy Blakely, spokeswoman for the Saddleback Unified School District, doctors are in agreement that the skin malady is consistent with bites. What sort of insect bites? At this point, it is anyone's guess.

Researchers have combed the school and grounds with a variety of trapping techniques in search of the biting insect. They started with sticky traps to identify vectors they are charged with controlling, and upon finding nothing, they moved on to different vectors that they are not.

"People might have seen us out there with lint rollers, looking for mites," Dever said. "We used the lint rollers as a method of picking up mites from door jambs, window sills, extensively all over campus. We may have looked crazy, but the rolling method is very reliable."

Other methods of picking up creatures too small for the eye to see include dry ice creating carbon dioxide on black cards, "which mimics exhaled breath and draws mites," he said. Though no results have been found to date, OC Vector Control is not about to give up its hunt for the culprit. The search has happened after extensive spraying of school grounds, and OC Vector relies on insects to happen across some of the traps, which might be the challenge in identifying the problem insect.

"It would be really disappointing" if they never found the cause, Dever said. "Though this amount of detailed research on what is causing the affliction outside of what we are tasked to do, it is a public health issue, and we aren't going to quit until we know why these children were suffering."

OC Vector Control has called in the big guns, with leading mite expert Steven Bennett.

"There aren't many mite experts out there, and he is the leading expert in that field," Dever said.

Bennett has given them a list of data to collect, and will be on campus gathering more types of mite surveillance through Oct. 3.

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District, as yet another precautionary measure to combat the issue, released this statement on Thursday:

"Out of an extreme abundance of caution, the entire campus will be sprayed again this weekend, both inside and outside classrooms, and all field areas to ensure that all concerns have been addressed."

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