Classes Boycotted Over 2 Pupils’ Herpes

Nearly a third of the classmates of an Iowa girl who has herpes stayed home from school today, and a Maryland boy with a similar infection was the only pupil to greet his substitute teacher today.

More than half the students at Longfellow School in Council Bluffs, Iowa, had boycotted school Monday to protest a judge’s ruling allowing a 3-year-old girl to attend class at the campus’ preschool despite her herpes. Today’s absentee rate was 31%.

In Pasadena, Md., five classmates and the regular teacher of an infected 3-year-old boy stayed home. A substitute teacher was assigned to the classroom after the regular teacher requested and received a transfer.

Yet it was not known how the children got herpes or what kind of herpes they have.

Five kinds of herpes virus infect humans. One form causes chicken pox. Herpes simplex I causes common cold sores, usually around the mouth. Herpes simplex II is sexually transmitted and infects the genital area. The other two are Epstein-Barr virus, which causes a variety of infections, including mononucleosis, and cytomegalo virus, which has no symptoms.

Officials estimate that 40% of American schoolchildren contract one of the herpes viruses by age 14, and about 80% of all adults have been exposed to the viruses.

The Council Bluffs girl was readmitted to school when a judge ruled that she could attend class after daily examinations by the school nurse. She cannot ride the school bus with other children, nor can she attend school when her condition flares up.

Today was the second day of special education classes at Pasadena Elementary about 15 miles south of Baltimore, but--as was the case Monday--only the infected boy showed up, said Thomas Paolino, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County teachers union.

“I will assume (the parents) will not send their children back to school until they feel adequate (health) guidelines . . . have been established,” Paolino said.