Sniffing Out School Illness: Is It in the Air?

By Jessica Portner

Newport, Vt.

Newport, Vt.

Jessica Trahan would rather be hanging out with her friends at North Country Union High School here than plodding through her math homework on her living room couch. But the 14-year-old freshman says school literally makes her sick.

"At first I thought, 'It's a new school, I'm nervous.' But I'd get constant sinus infections and headaches, and soon I couldn't take it anymore," said Jessica, who has been home-tutored at district expense ever since she fainted in class and was whisked to the emergency room with a severe rash three months ago. A family physician said the otherwise healthy teenager was allergic to something in the building, and he advised her not to venture back until the school's air quality improves. She did just that--on a very limited basis--earlier this month after the school made...