Amherst sixth-graders come down with bedbugs at Freedom camp

A group of Amherst sixth-graders returned from a Lakes Region environmental camp recently with a better understanding – in more ways than one – of how Mother Nature sometimes works.

Roughly 20 Amherst Middle School sixth-graders were first thought to have come down with chicken pox, but after further examination, the little red welts that broke out on their skin were caused by bedbug bites.

SAU 39 Superintendent Mary Jennings said the bugs had apparently gotten into some of the cabins at Camp Cody, the residential camp in Freedom where the students stayed from Oct. 19-23 while taking part in Nature’s Classroom, an outdoor nature and environmental education program that Amherst sixth-graders attend each year.

The state health department was contacted, but once it was determined there was no communicable disease involved, officials didn’t need to investigate further, said department spokesperson Nicola Whitley.

Jennings said the students were referred to their family physicians for treatment.

Bedbug infestations are typically found in large residential settings such as group homes, boarding homes and tenements. If treated promptly and thoroughly, bedbug bites are more an annoyance than a serious health problem, say those in the medical field. But for those who don’t treat the bites quickly, or are repeatedly exposed to the creatures, serious infections can develop.

Jennings said district officials learned that a group that used the Camp Cody cabins before the AMS students also reported bedbug problems. “The camp responded and thought they’d taken care of the problem,” she said.

The non-profit Nature’s Classroom program, headquartered in Charlton, Mass., was started in 1973. It currently hosts students from more than 350 school districts each year at its 15 locations in New England and New York.

Dean Shalhoup