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Updated: 5:58 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 | Posted: 3:06 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, 2013

29 students sickened in science class

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Brown Middle School photo
Brant Sanderlin, bsanderlin@ajc.com
Officials transported 22 Brown Middle School students to Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital after students complained of itching and skin irritation on Monday, Feb. 225, 2013.

By Alexis Stevens

Twenty-nine students from Brown Middle School in southwest Atlanta were transported to the hospital Monday afternoon with complaints of itching during a science class.

The students, whose names were not released, were taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding for treatment, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Paramedics were called to the school around 12:15 on a report of a student having an allergic reaction, Atlanta fire Capt. Marian McDaniel said.

“Once they arrived, they encountered several students having the same type of symptoms,” McDaniel said.

Students experienced irritated skin, but no breathing problems, according to Stephen Alford, spokesman for Atlanta schools. None of the injuries were believed serious.

The third-floor classroom was first evacuated, followed by other classrooms on the same floor as a precaution, Alford said. Parents of the students affected were called, he said.

Air monitoring was conducted to test for a variety of toxins, including carbon monoxide, McDaniel said. But those were negative, she said.

The cause of the students’ skin irritations remains under investigation.

Photographer Brant Sanderlin contributed to this report.