Bedbugs, lice, staph hit Simon's Rock
by Timothy Cama | Llama Ledger Staff
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: News
A Kendrick House suite with eight residents was given two days to evacuate recently after bedbugs were found in one resident's bed.
Meanwhile, almost 10 students have been diagnosed with head lice, while one student has been found to have the easily communicable Staphylococcus bacteria.
All three are very common on college campuses, according to Director of Health Services Jodi Tuller, and all can be prevented.
Bedbugs
Suite three in Kendrick will remain closed for the rest of the semester, said Director of Residence Life Tom Coote, while contractors disinfect it and make sure the bedbugs are gone.
"Bedbugs were only found in one room in Kendrick, however, the whole hall was evacuated as a precaution," said Tuller.
"We figured, because of the way Kendrick is set up, that it was a good idea to close the whole suite," she said.
But that wasn't the only precaution that Tuller, Coote and Director of Physical Plant Steve Carigan took to ensure the safety and health of students.
A student came to Health Services about two weeks ago with "suspicious bites," according to Tuller. The nurses weren't quite sure what to think about the bites, which the student found when she woke up in the morning, said Tuller.
Later, the student brought an insect she found in her room to Health Services, and the staff, with the help of biology professor Bob Schmidt, concluded that it was in fact a bedbug.
Bedbugs, small insects that cannot fly, feed on blood, according to WebMD. They do not spread disease, but the bites they leave can cause itching, and some people are even allergic to the bites.
The student who first reported the begbugs has been the only student thus far to suffer such bites, but school officials still had to take extreme measures to exterminate the insects.
First-year Emily Calderalo, along with her roommate Keren Racine, found out about the infestation Friday, Sept. 21, when they were told they had until that Sunday to move out. They were relocated to Hill House, where they'll stay for the remainder of the academic year.
But Calderalo and the other seven residents of the all-female suite couldn't just pack up and leave. Initially, they could only take clothing and bedding, after washing it.
"We couldn't even take books," explained Calderalo. "[The Residence Life staff] thought the bedbugs liked paper, so we couldn't take anything like that."
Physical Plant employees took residents' other belongings, and have returned them as they have been either cleaned or found to be safe from the bugs.
"About 90 percent of our stuff has been returned," said Calderalo, who is still unsure about whether or not her shoes will be returned.
Contractors will have to treat the Kendrick suite three times, with a period of 30 days between each treatment, said Coote.
"It has to do with the bedbugs' life cycle," he said. The process assures that all the bugs will be killed.
The first treatment was applied shortly after the residents moved out.
The six first-years in the suite have moved to Hill House, where they'll stay for the remainder of the academic year. The two sophomores in the hall were in singles, so they moved to Crosby House, where there were empty singles.
Bedbugs are frequently transmitted when people travel, because they hide in luggage and bags, according to Tuller. They received the name "bedbug" due to their hiding in bed sheets and mattresses.
Neither Tuller nor Coote could speculate as to how bedbugs came to Simon's Rock.
Tuller recommends that students frequently wash their bed linens, and push their beds away from walls to avoid bedbugs.
"Don't put luggage under your bed," she said, since bedbugs frequently get from luggage to beds that way.
"Keep things tidy," she adds.
Head lice
Just under 10 students have been diagnosed with head lice in the past few days, said Tuller.
But unlike last fall's head lice outbreak in Kendrick House, students in four dormitories have the lice.
First-year André Diehl found out he had head lice after Keon Diggs, his residence director in Kendrick, recommended he get checked. As of Tuesday night, four people he frequently spends time with have also been diagnosed.
Diehl thinks the cause might be a very comfortable pillow he has in his room, which many visitors use. As to who originally brought the lice to the pillow, Diehl has no guesses.
Head lice are very small insects that live in the humans' hair, said Tuller. They usually cause a very itchy scalp, and can be treated with a number of shampoos or other topical treatments.
Lice usually crawl from one host to another, then lay eggs before leaving. The eggs hatch, and the cycle continues.
Diehl was asked to use a shampoo, but he also straightened his hair as a precaution. The heat of a straightening iron can kill the lice, he said.
Anyone who knows someone who has head lice should come to Health Services to get checked, said Tuller.
Apart from that, people shouldn't share hats or unnecessarily rub heads, she said.
Staph
Staphylococcus, also known as Staph, though highly communicable, has only been found in one Simon's Rock student recently, said Tuller.
The main concern of the Staph bacteria is the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, which has become of recent concern around the country.
The infection, which is most common in locker rooms and other athletic venues, can be transmitted by sharing towels, shaving equipment, or athletic equipment with sweat on it, according to Tuller.
Once someone is infected, a big swollen area forms on the skin, which may have to be drained at a hospital.
Similarly to bedbugs and head lice, people can prevent Staph by keeping clean and washing clothes, towels and bed linens. Tuller also recommends not sharing towels, shaving equipment, or other similar wet items.
Contact the author: tcama@llamaledger.com
Meanwhile, almost 10 students have been diagnosed with head lice, while one student has been found to have the easily communicable Staphylococcus bacteria.
All three are very common on college campuses, according to Director of Health Services Jodi Tuller, and all can be prevented.
Bedbugs
Suite three in Kendrick will remain closed for the rest of the semester, said Director of Residence Life Tom Coote, while contractors disinfect it and make sure the bedbugs are gone.
"Bedbugs were only found in one room in Kendrick, however, the whole hall was evacuated as a precaution," said Tuller.
"We figured, because of the way Kendrick is set up, that it was a good idea to close the whole suite," she said.
But that wasn't the only precaution that Tuller, Coote and Director of Physical Plant Steve Carigan took to ensure the safety and health of students.
A student came to Health Services about two weeks ago with "suspicious bites," according to Tuller. The nurses weren't quite sure what to think about the bites, which the student found when she woke up in the morning, said Tuller.
Later, the student brought an insect she found in her room to Health Services, and the staff, with the help of biology professor Bob Schmidt, concluded that it was in fact a bedbug.
Bedbugs, small insects that cannot fly, feed on blood, according to WebMD. They do not spread disease, but the bites they leave can cause itching, and some people are even allergic to the bites.
The student who first reported the begbugs has been the only student thus far to suffer such bites, but school officials still had to take extreme measures to exterminate the insects.
First-year Emily Calderalo, along with her roommate Keren Racine, found out about the infestation Friday, Sept. 21, when they were told they had until that Sunday to move out. They were relocated to Hill House, where they'll stay for the remainder of the academic year.
But Calderalo and the other seven residents of the all-female suite couldn't just pack up and leave. Initially, they could only take clothing and bedding, after washing it.
"We couldn't even take books," explained Calderalo. "[The Residence Life staff] thought the bedbugs liked paper, so we couldn't take anything like that."
Physical Plant employees took residents' other belongings, and have returned them as they have been either cleaned or found to be safe from the bugs.
"About 90 percent of our stuff has been returned," said Calderalo, who is still unsure about whether or not her shoes will be returned.
Contractors will have to treat the Kendrick suite three times, with a period of 30 days between each treatment, said Coote.
"It has to do with the bedbugs' life cycle," he said. The process assures that all the bugs will be killed.
The first treatment was applied shortly after the residents moved out.
The six first-years in the suite have moved to Hill House, where they'll stay for the remainder of the academic year. The two sophomores in the hall were in singles, so they moved to Crosby House, where there were empty singles.
Bedbugs are frequently transmitted when people travel, because they hide in luggage and bags, according to Tuller. They received the name "bedbug" due to their hiding in bed sheets and mattresses.
Neither Tuller nor Coote could speculate as to how bedbugs came to Simon's Rock.
Tuller recommends that students frequently wash their bed linens, and push their beds away from walls to avoid bedbugs.
"Don't put luggage under your bed," she said, since bedbugs frequently get from luggage to beds that way.
"Keep things tidy," she adds.
Head lice
Just under 10 students have been diagnosed with head lice in the past few days, said Tuller.
But unlike last fall's head lice outbreak in Kendrick House, students in four dormitories have the lice.
First-year André Diehl found out he had head lice after Keon Diggs, his residence director in Kendrick, recommended he get checked. As of Tuesday night, four people he frequently spends time with have also been diagnosed.
Diehl thinks the cause might be a very comfortable pillow he has in his room, which many visitors use. As to who originally brought the lice to the pillow, Diehl has no guesses.
Head lice are very small insects that live in the humans' hair, said Tuller. They usually cause a very itchy scalp, and can be treated with a number of shampoos or other topical treatments.
Lice usually crawl from one host to another, then lay eggs before leaving. The eggs hatch, and the cycle continues.
Diehl was asked to use a shampoo, but he also straightened his hair as a precaution. The heat of a straightening iron can kill the lice, he said.
Anyone who knows someone who has head lice should come to Health Services to get checked, said Tuller.
Apart from that, people shouldn't share hats or unnecessarily rub heads, she said.
Staph
Staphylococcus, also known as Staph, though highly communicable, has only been found in one Simon's Rock student recently, said Tuller.
The main concern of the Staph bacteria is the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, which has become of recent concern around the country.
The infection, which is most common in locker rooms and other athletic venues, can be transmitted by sharing towels, shaving equipment, or athletic equipment with sweat on it, according to Tuller.
Once someone is infected, a big swollen area forms on the skin, which may have to be drained at a hospital.
Similarly to bedbugs and head lice, people can prevent Staph by keeping clean and washing clothes, towels and bed linens. Tuller also recommends not sharing towels, shaving equipment, or other similar wet items.
Contact the author: tcama@llamaledger.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
g.t.b.g.
posted 10/03/07 @ 10:42 AM EST
Ew.
Cleanliness = goodness. Shower, clean, wash clothing and bedding.....and wash your hands!
SRC can be so gross...
springpondbver
Stephen Tvedten
posted 10/04/07 @ 12:02 PM EST
How to kill pests without killing yourself or the earth......
There are about 50 to 60 million insect species on earth - we have named only about 1 million and there are only about 1 thousand pest species - already over 50% of these thousand pests are already resistant to our volatile, dangerous, synthetic pesticide POISONS. (Continued…)
sam
posted 10/06/07 @ 3:30 PM EST
does anyone else remember 4 or i guess 5 years ago when CHI posted all the paper underwear with stats about how many people on campus have STIs? It was a lot. (Continued…)
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