Bedbugs have been found at Penn Middle School in the Penn-Trafford School District.
District officials alerted parents Wednesday that a student was found with bedbugs on their body. No additional bugs were found in the student’s belongings.
When a professional exterminator and the district’s maintenance director began searching classrooms frequented by the student, no additional evidence of an infestation was found.
District officials said the exterminator will install monitoring traps, and if there are any signs of an infestation, the district will move toward a large-scale eradication.
“We will be monitoring this situation closely and consulting with the Department of Health,” Penn Middle Principal Jim Simpson said a news release.
Bedbugs feed on human blood, and are usually active at night when people are sleeping. Adults have flat, rusty red-colored bodies that swell and become brighter red when they feed. They are about the size of an apple seed.
Their presence is not associated with the cleanliness of a particular location, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bites from a bedbug are initially painless but turn to large, itchy welts after a day or so. Their presence can also be detected through the rusty red, blood-filled fecal matter they excrete on mattresses or other furniture.
The bites are not dangerous, and bedbugs are not known to spread disease.
