LIVERMORE FALLS — RSU 36 Superintendent Sue Pratt told the school board Thursday that a single bedbug was found in a classroom at the Livermore Elementary School this week.

A staff member found the bug on a rug in a classroom late in the day on Tuesday and used tape to pick it up, Pratt said.

School officials followed protocol and verified Wednesday that the insect was indeed a bedbug and alerted proper authorities.

Modern Pest Control checked the classrooms and determined there were no more and cleaned the room.

Letters were sent home to parents of students in that classroom Thursday to alert them to of the situation, Pratt said.

The licensed pesticide contractor recommended that clear, plastic totes be bought for each student in that classroom. Students will put their backpack, coats and boots in the containers beginning Friday morning, Pratt said.

“We will continue to do surveillance,” Pratt said. “Modern Pest Control will continue to check. We will be very vigilant.”

If any more bedbugs are found the school will be treated for them.

According to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Maine Department of Education, bedbugs have small, flat, rusty-red-colored oval bodies. They feed on people’s blood as they sleep.

“Although the bite does not hurt at the time, it may develop into an itchy welt similar to a mosquito bite,” the literature states. “Bedbugs do not transmit disease but they can cause significant itchiness, anxiety and sleeplessness.”

Bedbugs usually hide during the day and only come out during the night. Unlike head lice they do not live on a person. They can hitchhike from one place to another in backpacks, clothing, luggage, books and other items.

More information can be found at www.mainepublichealth.gov/bedbugs.

dperry@sunjournal.com