This back-to-school horror brings a whole new meaning to the term “a bug in the system.”
A North Carolina high school had to tell students to bring back their district-issued laptops after bed bugs were spotted crawling out of the devices, according to WRAL News.
The creepy-crawlies infested the media center at Riverside High School, where the Google Chromebooks had been stored over the summer — and must have hidden inside laptops that were given to kids at freshman orientation ahead of the district’s Aug. 26 start date.
Now, the Durham public school district is reportedly asking parents to bring the electronics back — and nudging families to inspect their homes for any stragglers.
“We understand that this may cause concern, but please rest assured that we are taking every precaution to address the situation and prevent further occurrences,” Riverside principal Gloria Woods-Weeks wrote in an email to parents.
Administrators said the infected computers and entire media center has been fumigated.
“We are working closely with pest control experts to implement additional preventive measures to ensure this does not recur,” school officials told CBS 17.
Bed bugs — small, brown insects about the size of an apple seed — can be notoriously difficult to get rid of once they’ve established themselves in a specific spot.
Despite their reputation, they don’t actually hurt their hosts.
More often, they simply emerge at night to bite sleeping people — leaving a trail of red marks on their victims that resemble mosquito bites.
Though they were nearly eradicated in the middle of the 20th century, the pests have made a powerful comeback and have since infested cities all over the world, famously including Paris, France.
“Bed bugs are incredibly effective travelers, just like we are,” Michael Bentley, director of training and education at the National Pest Management Association, told USA Today last year. “As we evolved to travel around the world, bed bugs evolved to travel with us.”
Ironically, three North Carolina spots — Charlotte, Greensboro and, yes, Raleigh-Durham — made a list of the top 50 cities fighting severe infestations, according to a February report from Spectrum News 1.
