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School officials and parents are wondering why nineteen fifth graders at P.S. 177 in Bensonhurst came down with rashes on their necks. The school was quarantined for two hours, but the Department of Health didn't find any causes. Speculation that dust from school construction might be the culprit seems unlikely, since there were other rooms closer to the construction and students in those rooms did not develop the rash. Afflicted children were sent to hospitals, leaving many fifth graders worried and upset.
Gothamist is pretty sure we know what caused the rash: Winds from the Lower East side, where a tale of two cities' Joey is still pondering the cause of his rash. Either that or a devious way to get out of taking the math test on decimals.
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Oh, rue this day, for my life has become a Gothamist punchline! The seasons are changing, and so will the winds. Watch out, Upper West Side -- your stacks of hundred-dollar bills can keep out the proles, but not the mystery plagues!
Mystery rashes, eh? We called them hickies when I was in fifth grade.
There was a great article I'll have to remember from where a few months after 9/11 during the whole Anthrax thing. Apparently, schools around the country were being striken with waves of these rashes. There was no medical way of explaining it as you could track who gave it to who, but in many cases, it was over the phone. The symptoms were real (raised welts, red spots or splotches) and didn't appear to be psycho-somatic. Parents of course flipped out and demanded the board of health investigate, which they would do and yet never found anything.
The article went into detail about how districts which kept arguing with parents that there was nothing wrong exacerbated the problem with parent rage frequently taking over. Districts which closed the school for a "cleaning just in case" day were able to assuage the parents and the rash would go away. Comparisons were made to the Salem witch trials.
The author also delved into research about the human mind and how suggestible it is, particularly about itches and even more particularly in teenagers. Even though all of her interviews were over the phone, it didn't take long for her to be driven mad with the itchies.