Don't know if it is related but there has been an outbreak of rashes in New England (Connecticut and Massachusetts).  Unknown cause - has closed elementary schools for a few days.

Here is a Boston Globe article:

A Dennis middle school will be closed today because a mysterious rash has affected more than 100 pupils and is spreading fast. The itchy, red blight started showing up on pupils' faces and arms at the Wixon Middle School last week. It seemed to subside, then started popping up on dozens of pupils on Tuesday, Tony Pierantozzi, the superintendent of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, said last night.
TX_TX	By yesterday, 60 pupils were absent and 55 others had stopped by the nurse's office. Instead of letting it continue to spread, officials decided to cancel classes today. Because the school is also closed on Friday for Good Friday observance, the break will run four days, which Pierantozzi said he hopes is enough time for the rash to clear up. So far, no teachers have been affected. Health officials said they don't know what is causing the outbreak, which typically looks like hives or poison ivy and is mostly showing up on pupils' faces and arms. Pierantozzi said the rash is not considered a serious health threat and seems to go away after a couple of days. In the meantime, the school has twice sent home notes with pupils telling their parents to treat the rash with oatmeal baths or calamine lotion. The school and school buses will be tested today to see if there is something in the environment that is causing the irritation. Walls, desks, lockers, counter tops and bus seats will also be cleaned, Pierantozzi said. Dennis is the first community in the state where a rash has forced a school closing, but similar outbreaks have popped up in 15 states across the country, as well as in Canada, since October. The rashes have typically affected elementary and middle school pupils, anywhere from 10 to 600 people at a time. The most recent reported case was in Connecticut. "We don't know if this is related to the outbreaks in the other states," Pierantozzi said. On March 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study saying no common cause could be found. The CDC requested reports from all 50 states about any rash outbreaks but found no common cause and said the rashes weren't all the same. "With 53 million young people attending 117,000 schools every day in the United States, it is expected that rashes from a wide variety of causes will be observed," the study concluded.
Copyright	Copyright (c) 2002, Globe Newspaper Company

 

Sorry for the formatting.