Parents in Villa Park Elementary should be asking different question!
Humans living with rats or birds nesting on their homes are frequently
attacked by mites which migrate from nests into the structure. Most people don’t even know what’s causing these bites. Children coming home from school may complain about small red spots on their body but parents don’t have any idea how they got the bites or what’s biting them. The bites can cause severe itching and painful dermatitis in sensitive individuals.
Last summer an Elementary school in Villa Park California, which is in Orange County, had to send children from 3 classrooms to other locations because of rat mites biting kids and teachers. This problem had been going on for months but parents and teachers didn’t know where the bites came from. It wasn’t until calls started coming into Orange County Vector Control late in the school year from parents who said their children had been coming home with what they though was bed bug bites. Vector control found the cause to be rodent mites in several builds at the school. It was found that dozens of children and teachers confirmed to have suffered bites.
“Kat Roncancio said her fifth-grade daughter was coming home with bites. At first, Roncancio suspected she just needed to groom her dogs – until her daughter mentioned her class was hearing rats in the walls and in the ceiling”.
“I was a little taken aback,” Roncancio said. “I’ve had two other kids in Villa Park Elementary, and we’ve never been through this. I think for it being maybe their first time going through this, it’s a learning experience to maybe next time handle it better. Just more transparency with the parents would help get through this problem.”
Michael Christensen, the Orange Unified School District’s superintendent, said,” the likeliest reason for the rats’ appearance is the work on two vacant 1920s buildings in the heart of campus.
“The crumbling buildings are being prepared for demolition following parent demand earlier this year they be removed for safety reasons”.
Also, school officials said” roof rats, which is the rat infesting the schools, don’t carry and diseases”.
Parents should be asking different questions:
Orange Unified School District uses 3 different pest control providers according to their latest IPM plan. Why didn’t the pest control provider find the rat infestation in the old buildings so it could have been dealt with?
How could a school official say that roof rats don’t carry diseases?
As far back as 1999, An Orange County Vector Control report found that “ROOF RATS” they trapped had a strain of the dangerous Hantavirus called Seoul virus. The infected rats were discovered at the Villa Park Flood Control Basin in Orange!
Those who suffer from the virus will first experience flu-like symptoms, including a fever and headache. After that, splotchy rashes will appear on the skin.
