Mite problem at Satz School is for the birds

HOLMDEL - Sit tight and don't let the bird mites bite is what students attending the William R. Satz Intermediate School are doing while in class.

According to an update presented at the May 28 Board of Education meeting, the bird mite situation has been handled and classes are to resume. The area will be monitored for any additional mites.

Bird mites were discovered in classroom 125 on May 19. According to a statement regarding the mites, their presence was caused by a bird's nest on the school roof.A

n update released on May 23 said a small number of mites were still present at the exit door near classroom 125. The statement explained that birds are still present at that location.

"We have hired a professional wildlife removal company who will be working on the exterior part of the building beginning tonight (May 21) to remove the birds and relocate them to another part of the wooded area of our property," read the statement. "All work should be completed by Thursday (May 22) afternoon. Every- one is considered safe as no one is exposed directly to the affected zone."

The classroom and surrounding areas were immediately closed off and classes were moved to other locations. Administrators called a pest control service that dusted the roof of the Satz building with a low-impact pesticide. The company advised the school to cleanse the entire area with a liquid solution of vinegar and water.

According to the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Department of Entomology, infestations usually occur in late spring or early summer when bird nests are full and the bird mites are barely visible to the naked eye unless they are moving. They feed off the blood of birds and will travel. Their color is translucent until they consume blood, after which they appear to be brown. The department's Web site advises a skin irritation is produced after a bite because of an injection of the mite's saliva, which causes a localized histamine response.

The Satz School administration advised students to remove all of their belongings from their lockers and bring any extra clothing home in garbage bags to be washed in hot water.