Principal: Bed Bug Found at Middletown Elementary an Isolated Case

Parents of Macdonough Elementary School students learned Thursday afternoon that a single bed bug had been discovered in one of two kindergarten classrooms, through a note sent home with children and a Honeywell alert.

Principal Jon Romeo said on a recorded message, "pest management experts have just completed an inspection of the school and confirmed that there is no evidence of bed bug contamination in our building."

City and school district officials responded quickly and efficiently to the situation, Romeo said. 

Superintendent of Schools Patricia Charles said this was an isolated incident. "No other school has reported bed bugs. Macdonough was inspected and no bed bug contamination was found by the pest control specialists. The firm we employed, Quest, specializes in this area."

Bed bugs should not be considered as a medical or public health hazard and are not known to spread disease, according to the Centers for Disease and Control.

The last known instance of bed bugs in a public building was last August at the Russell Library, when it was closed for more than two days, after, "the health department got an anonymous call about a bed bud in a DVD case and staff confirmed there were bed buds in the adult DVD area and the upstairs adult computer area," Mayor Dan Drew said at the time.

"We're bringing in specialized dogs who are able to sniff them out because they're so difficult to see with the naked eye. It's a fairly extensive process. They have to go through the entire library. There are two isolated areas we know of right now," Drew said.

Since then, the library has replaced its fabric chairs with hard plastic Herman Miller Aeron chairs.

Related articles

• Russell Library Will Reopen Friday
• Mayor: Library Closed 'Minimum of Several Days' for Bed Bugs
• Finding Bed Bug-Proof Chairs No Easy Task

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