It isn't surprising, according to Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, that a doctor from New Jersey who makes a living diagnosing PANDAS came to that conclusion today in the Le Roy illness case.

Dr. Rosario Trifiletti appeared on the Dr. Drew television show tonight and also released a statement saying that "five of eight girls show evidence of carriage of streptococcus pyogenes and seven of eight show evidence of infection with mycoplasma pneumonia."

"This is what everybody expected him to do," said Mechtler, who is part of the team at Dent Neurological Institute who diagnosed the girls with conversion disorder.

Mechtler added that Dent's physicians stand by their original diagnosis and added that other experts are ready to step forward -- including Dr. Susan Swedo, the first doctor to write about PANDAS -- to support the conversion disorder diagnosis.

"There are enough experts ready to basically dispute his allegations," Mechtler said.

In his statement tonight, Trifiletti expressly refuted the conversion disorder diagnosis.

On the Dr. Drew show, Drew Pinsky asked Trifiletti if he consulted with Mechtler, and Trifiletti said flatly, "no," and said there was no plan to consult with him.

In a tsk-tsk moment, Pinsky said it's bad for patients when "competing" doctors have differing opinions.

PANDAS is most often associated with what's called a "vaccine injury," when a child gets an infection from a vaccine. But Trifiletti made no mention of vaccines as a cause in either his appearance -- by phone -- on Dr. Drew, nor in his written statement.

"As with most illnesses, there is a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors here," Trifiletti said. "As with all illnesses, psychological factors likely play some role as well. All we have done here is provided evidence for exposure to two infectious agents as potential environmental factors."

Prior to Trifiletti's statement, Mechtler predicted that Trifiletti would tie the infections to a possible environmental cause, calling it "dangerous" for the community.

"That he is saying this is a PANDAS weakness, related somehow to an environmental toxin, is only going to tie it back to Erin Brockovich," Mechtler said. "This diagnosis is going to be huge for these guys."

There are two views of Brockovich, Mechtler said. One is that she wants to do good for the community and the other is that maybe she's more focused on a lawsuit and making a name for herself.

Or, maybe, he said, the truth is somewhere in between.

"I don’t know her and I won’t judge her," Mechtler said "I want to think the best of people and believe the perspective that she wants to help these people. But if they say it's PANDAS and TCE, there's going to be lawsuits."

Trifiletti said his diagnosis didn't answer all of the questions people have, such as why now, why in this town, why a particular child and not another, but that "infectious exposure is simply 'the straw that broke the camel’s back.' "

On Dr. Drew he said, "I think (streptococcus) is one of the main factors and the most easily reversed factor. I already started talking to families about a treatment based on this."

Trifiletti said he was recommending a regime of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents, and Mechtler said the prescriptions will work for the patients, if they believe in Trifiletti.

He compared the treatment to a placebo effect and a religious ceremony. Since conversion disorder is a psychogenic illness, if the patients are hyped into believing a treatment will work, it will work.

And if that's the outcome, that's a good thing, Mechtler said.

"At the end of the day, all I want is to see the patients get better," Mechtler said.

Beth Miller, the mother of one of the original 12 girls, told Pinsky that it was easier to accept the PANDAS diagnosis than conversion disorder because her daughter, she said, is a normal, healthy girl who doesn't have any stress in her life.

Drew asked Miller about a series of operations she has apparently had and whether that was stressful for her daughter, and Miller admitted, "I'm still sick."  Pinsky then turned his attention to another guest on the show.

The state DOH report said all of the original 12 girls had suffered significant stress in their lives, and Mechtler said over the weekend that the stress for some of the girls at some point in their lives is "everything you could imagine and worse."

Mass psychogenic illness refers to passing of one symptomatic behavior from one person to another. While not all 12 girls originally knew each other, there is a chain of connection among all of the patients diagnosed with conversion disorder.

After the jump (click the headline to read more) is the full statement from Trifiletti:

I have now had the opportunity to review laboratory data collected in standardized fashion on eight of the nine girls I examined in Le Roy, NY, on 1/29/12. Five of eight girls show evidence of carriage of Streptococcus Pyogenes and seven of eight show evidence of infection with Mycoplasma Pneumonia. All eight girls tested show evidence of infection with at least one of these pathogens. Both of these agents have been associated with a PANDAS-like illness with the sudden onset of motor and vocal tics. Thus, a PANDAS-like illness is my working diagnosis, rather than a mass conversion disorder.

These findings provide a significant clue in the Le Roy High School mystery, but certainly many questions remain. Streptococcus Pyogenes and Mycoplasma Pneumonia are common pathogens that children throughout the world are exposed to every day. Why this town? Why this particular child and not another? Why such a curious presentation resembling Tourette syndrome? Until these questions are fully answered, the cluster will remain a mystery. I suspect that genetic, environmental factors provide an immune background where the PANDAS-like response is possible to common pathogens. The infectious exposure is simply “the straw that broke the camel’s back." However, the infectious exposure points the way to rational medical treatment for these children, which is of immediate importance. Such treatment, which involves antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents, has already begun. Clearly, response to such treatment will be helpful in supporting my working diagnosis.

As with most illnesses, there is a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors here. As with all illnesses, psychological factors likely play some role as well. All we have done here is provided evidence for exposure to two infectious agents as potential environmental factors. I would encourage efforts to further explore genetic and other environmental factors that likely are playing an additional role here.

RSVP of Genesee County has reached a milestone -- one-million hours of free community service. Coordinator Dorian Ely made the announcement today.

The program’s volunteers, all aged 55 and older, have given a total of 1,007,797 hours of service. This translates into a contribution valued at $16.6 million according to the volunteer value rates set by the Independent Sector.

“We are fortunate in Genesee County to have so many individuals who want to give back to their community," Ely said. "This number is actually conservative; we know that many of the volunteers give more time than we are able to capture statistically.”

The RSVP volunteer placement program is part of the nation’s Senior Corps. It has been operating in Genesee County since 1985. The program places volunteers with more than 40 agencies countywide, matching their interests and talents with the needs of the organizations. The program currently has 425 active volunteers ranging in age from 55 to 96.

Ely noted that the program has changed through the years, moving from trying to be everything to everyone, to focusing on national social-impact areas such as aging in place, service to veterans, and disaster preparedness.

While there are many ways to serve, volunteers are currently needed to help senior citizens stay in their homes by providing medical transportation, friendly visiting, and delivery of library materials.

Coordination and administration of these programs are made possible by the Rochester Area Community Foundation’s Muriel H. Marshall Fund for the Aging, but they rely on volunteers to be an active part of delivering these services. Additionally, volunteers are being sought to become co-facilitators for Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) workshops.

For information on RSVP of Genesee County, Marshall Fund programs, or CDSMP, contact the Office for the Aging at 343-1611.

Press release:

United Memorial Medical Center Laboratory has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™ for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in laboratories. The accreditation award recognizes United Memorial’s dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards.

The UMMC Laboratory underwent a rigorous unannounced on-site survey in the Fall of 2011. A team of Joint Commission expert surveyors evaluated the lab for compliance with standards of care that directly affect the quality and safety of diagnostic services and patient care.

"In achieving Joint Commission accreditation, United Memorial has demonstrated its commitment to the highest level of care for its patients," says Jennifer Rhamy, M.B.A., M.A., M.T. (ASCP) SBB, HP, executive director, Laboratory Accreditation Program, The Joint Commission.

"With Joint Commission accreditation, we are making a significant investment in quality on a day-to-day basis from the top down. Joint Commission accreditation provides us a framework to take our organization to the next level and helps create a culture of excellence,” said Mark C. Schoell, president and CEO of United Memorial.

“For our organization, achieving Joint Commission accreditation is a major step toward maintaining excellence and continually improving the care we provide.”

The Joint Commission has been evaluating and accrediting laboratory services since 1979. Today, The Joint Commission accredits almost 2,000 organizations providing laboratory services. This represents almost 3,000 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certificate laboratories, including independent reference labs and in vitro fertilization labs, and those connected with other health care organizations such as hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and long-term care facilities.

The Joint Commission’s laboratory standards emphasize the results a laboratory should achieve instead of emphasizing the technical methods of performing testing, and were developed with input from professional laboratory organizations.

Joint Commission standards address processes that follow laboratory specimens -- from the doctor’s order into the laboratory, from specimen collection then back to the patient through result reporting -- focusing on the provision of high quality, safe laboratory services integrated with patient care.

These standards highlight the essential nature of laboratory services on the actual care and service delivery processes that contribute to and support the overall health care delivery system.

Press release:

During a visit to Zuber Farms in Churchville today to discuss her opposition to burdensome government regulations for farmers --like the recently lifted ban on the wintertime application of manure -- Congresswoman Kathy Hochul announced she has joined the bipartisan House Dairy Caucus to better represent the farmers in New York’s 26th Congressional District.

“Dairy farms play an important role to the New York State economy, making up nearly half of our state’s $4.5 billion agriculture industry and yielding more than 12 billion pounds of milk annually,” said Congresswoman Hochul.

“Fighting against burdensome regulations, like the ban on the wintertime application of manure, and fighting to give them the workforce they need by supporting an expansion of a temporary guest worker program, are some of the reasons why I joined the House Dairy Caucus.

"We must continue to support commonsense initiatives that provide our farmers with the proper resources and right opportunities to grow and continue to be driving factors in the Western New York economy.”

With nearly 35,000 farms, most family owned, New York’s agriculture industry is one of the state’s largest small-business industries. New York currently ranks fourth in the nation in milk production and Wyoming County, in the middle of New York’s 26th District, leads the state with almost 200 dairy operations.

Congresswoman Hochul, along with Representatives Paul Tonko (NY-21) and Richard Hanna (NY-24), today sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack commending him for removing the ban of the wintertime application of manure.

In October, representatives Hochul and Hanna introduced a bill that would allow dairy farmers to bring in temporary guest workers through the H-2A visa program to address their labor shortages. Currently, dairy farmers are unable to apply for H-2A visas due to the year-round production of dairy. 

Joining Congresswoman Hochul on the tour today at Zuber Farms were Kim and Eric Zuber, co-managers of Zuber Farms, Scott Page, president of the Genesee County Farm Bureau, and seven other local dairy farmers from throughout Western New York.

Kim is also the former president for the Monroe County Farm Bureau and a member of the Executive Committee for the New York Farm Bureau's Western New York Regional Advisory Committee. Eric is currently a member of the New York Farm Bureau.

Zuber Farms is a dairy in Monroe County, home to 1,000 head of young stock. The 10 farmers present today represented more than 10,000 head of cattle.

Press release:

The Genesee Center for the Arts is delighted to be welcoming the First Family of Western New York's country music scene, the Ramblin' Lou Family Band. Special guest will be Canadian "Polka King" -- Walter Ostanek.

They will perform at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19 in the Stuart Steiner Theatre at Genesee Community College in Batavia. Those who love country-Western music should get their tickets soon since this one-show-only event will likely sell out!

Ramblin' Lou Family Band has delivered a lifetime of good country music, family fun and entertainment across Western New York and the nation to audiences of all ages. They have, in fact, become a mainstay at Erie County Fair playing for more the 45 consecutive years! They also draw loyal audiences to many other local events including Canal Fest, West Seneca Town Park, Cheektowaga Seniors, and countless festivals.

Self-taught Ramblin' Lou sings and plays guitar; his wife, Joanie, a trained and accomplished musician, sings and plays lead guitar, their son, Lou Jr., plays the drums, while daughter, Linda Lou, sings and plays the bass. Lynn Carol plays keyboards.

Together, their cheerful disposition and down-home friendliness can't be beat. Through their many years of performing, audiences have consistently remarked how joy and happiness radiate from this fun-lovin' family and their talented friends.

Ramblin' Lou (whose seldom-heard last name is Schriver), grew up in Tonawanda and fell in love with the beat and melody of country music when he was a boy. He and his granddad would travel around Pennsylvania on Saturday nights entertaining the locals at fire halls with square dances. At the age of 9, he got his first guitar. As a teenager he approached a local radio station about a live music show and his original 15-minute program eventually grew to three hours.

He now owns and operates WXRL-AM (1300) radio and tours national country music events. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and the Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In addition, he and his wife are members of the "Walkway of Stars" in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Lou is also in Nashville's D.J. Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 seniors (55+), $5 for GCC staff and high school students and $3 for GCC students. Don't wait long, tickets are going fast!

For ticket information or reservations, contact the Genesee Center for the Arts Box Office at 345-6814, or by email at boxoffice@genesee.edu. The Genesee Center for the Arts Box Office accepts cash, checks and credit cards. For door-to-door directions, sent via email, visit www.genesee.edu.

The Geneseean of the Year for 2011 is Donna Saskowski, executive director of the local chapter of NY ARC. The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce made the announcement today.

Saskowski will be among the honorees at the chamber's 40th Annual Awards Ceremony on April 14 at the Clarion Hotel in Batavia. The other recipients were announced Friday.

Press release:

Information addressing the comments of the Western New York Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park (WNY STAMP) Final Generic Impact Statement (FGEIS) was discussed on January 26th at the Town of Alabama Fire Hall. Over 100 residents and interested constituents were on hand to receive an update on the progress of the WNY STAMP project.

A general overview of the project, the environmental review process, and responses to common topics from the Draft Generic Impact Statement (DGEIS) were presented by the GCEDC. Residents were given an opportunity to ask questions and provide additional feedback on the project.

On February 9, 2012 the GCEDC board, lead agency of the environmental review process, will consider a written findings statement for the WNY STAMP project. If the findings statement is approved, the environmental review process for the WNY STAMP project will be complete. At that point, the GCEDC will seek approval for the project from the Town of Alabama. The following steps will follow:

• Negotiation and adoption by the GCEDC, and the Town of Alabama on an incentive zoning agreement that will provide relief from some of the Town’s zoning laws in exchange for amenities provided by the GCEDC to the Town.

• Once the incentive zoning agreement is in place the Town of Alabama Planning Board and the Town of Alabama will begin consideration of the GCEDC’s application to rezone the STAMP site to a Technology Park and to amend the Town of Alabama Comprehensive Plan to address the STAMP project.

• In conjunction with the Town’s rezoning process, the County Planning Board will hold a public meeting, review, and make recommendations to the Alabama Town Board on the rezoning application.

To further assist the Town with its decision-making process, a public opinion survey of the project will be distributed to the residents of the Town of Alabama. The survey will be conducted by a third party legal, and market research company that specializes in public opinion polling. The results of the survey will be presented to the Town for their consideration at the conclusion of the survey.

After the planning agencies return comments to the Town of Alabama, the board will hold a public hearing on the rezoning application. This public hearing will give the residents of Alabama another opportunity to comment, on the record, regarding the proposed rezoning of the WNY STAMP site.

Simultaneously, with the Town’s approval process the GCEDC, in conjunction with state and federal representatives, will continue to pursue funding sources that will be used in the event the STAMP project is approved by the Town of Alabama.

State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer and National Grid have, and continue to be of assistance to the GCEDC to obtain funding for this important project. Senator Ranzenhofer’s recognition of the regional impact of this project and his commitment to it are reflected in his recent state budget request for funding of the STAMP project.

This comprehensive environmental review process, as outlined in the State Environmental Conservation Law, is the same process that was conducted for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in the Town of Batavia.

If, after careful review and consideration the Town of Alabama approves the GCEDC application to rezone the STAMP property, the GCEDC can begin to work with engineers to develop infrastructure plans for the site and strategically engage in a sales and marketing process to attract the first tenant to the STAMP site.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) is promoting a tuition reimbursement program for volunteer firefighters in Western New York. The deadline for the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) Higher Education Learning Plan (FASNY HELP) has been extended to Feb. 15, and the assemblyman believes it is a well-deserved benefit for Western New York’s courageous volunteers.

“I have always felt that the safety and security provided by our selfless, volunteer firefighters is a cornerstone of a strong community, and that it is our duty to thank and reward them for their sacrifice,” Hawley said. “FASNY HELP is a great way to show our appreciation for these brave men and women, and I hope that this program is a productive incentive in volunteer recruiting, because we truly can never have enough help at our local fire companies.”

FASNY HELP was developed as an incentive for people to serve in New York’s volunteer fire service. This program will provide tuition reimbursement to student volunteers allowing them to attain up to eighty (80) credit hours from their closest New York state chartered community college, or one located within 50 miles of their primary residence.

Under the FASNY HELP tuition reimbursement program, student volunteers will be eligible to have up to 100 percent of their tuition reimbursed in exchange for maintaining defined grades and fulfilling defined service requirements as a member in good standing in one of New York’s volunteer fire companies. There is no restriction on the type of academic course(s) the FASNY HELP student volunteer can pursue.

For more information, contact John D'Alessandro, FASNY deputy Volunteer Programs coordinator at 518-694-3136, or visit FASNY HELP on the web at http://www.fasny.com/index.php/membership/benefits/fasny-help.

A Batavia couple who admitted to welfare fraud were ordered by Judge Robert Noonan on Thursday to repay the government $14,017.14 they stole by filing false reports.

They are also disqualified from receiving food stamps.

Joshua Carney, 34, will serve four months of intermittent jail time in the Genesee County Jail, and then be on probation for three years. His wife, Holly Carney, 29, will serve three years probation.

In November, both Joshua and Holly entered guilty pleas to offering a false instrument for filing, 2nd.

Joshua had been charged with nine counts of offering a false instrument for filing and one count of grand larceny, 3rd.

Holly had been charged with 11 counts of offering a false instrument for filing and one count of grand larceny, 3rd.

They were accused of submitting forms to DSS that failed to report Joshua's commission income from his employer.

The confidential tip line for suspected welfare fraud is 344-2580, ext. 6417.

Angelo A. Cassidy, 35, of Lewis Place, Batavia, and 59-year-old Charles R. Gay, of Hemlock Ridge Road, Medina, are charged with petit larceny and conspiracy, 6th. Cassidy was reportedly employed by a business on Angling Road, Corfu, and allegedly falsified a weight ticket, allowing Gay to collect  money for scrap that was not actually part of his load. Cassidy and Gay are accused of making an arrangement regarding the money. The case was investigated by Deputy Chris Parker.

Carolyn M. Hooten, 29, of 12 Myrtle St., Le Roy, is charged with DWI and several traffic violations. Hooton was stopped late Friday evening on Myrtle Street by Le Roy Police.

Mathew Duncan Brew, 33, of Freeman Road, Byron, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and failure to yield right of way. Brew was arrested by Deputy Brad Mazur following a traffic accident at 9:24 p.m. Saturday at Route 262 and Bank Street Road.

Donovan Michael Zandi, 22, of Campbell Boulevard, Getzville, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Zandi's vehicle was reportedly found by Deputy Kevin McCarthy at 2:59 a.m., Jan. 26, on Countyline Road, Darien, with four-way flashers on.

Kara Ellen Wojkowski, 28, Hall Road, Holley, is charged with grand larceny, 4th. Wojkowski is accused of stealing a motor vehicle on Oct. 25. She turned herself in at the Sheriff's Office on a warrant for her arrest. Following arraignment in Byron, she was jailed on $2,000 bail.

Kathryn L. Johnson, 24, of 20 Hutchins St., lower, Batavia, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, criminally using drug paraphernalia, 2nd, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Johnson was arrested following a visit by County Probation to her home and jailed on $1,000 bail.

Bob Bowcock, lead researcher for the Erin Brockovich team, said he feels like there are still too many unanswered questions for him to walk away from further investigation in Le Roy.

He's coming back, probably with Brockovich, the week of Feb. 20 to continue digging for information and possibly take part in a town hall meeting with Brockovich.

"I've got to finish what I started because there are basic questions that have gone unanswered," he said.

Bowcock said his biggest area of concern are the gas wells on school property. He hasn't been able to get basic information from the school district about the wells and the gas that's being used in the school.

"Is there mercury in the gas? I don't know," Bowcock said. "If there isn't, then case closed (regarding gas from the wells)."

He said one easy way to get the answer is to look at the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets), which he said are public record and should be kept in a binder at the school. So far, he said, the district hasn't been willing to share those sheets with him.

When a reporter asked Saturday about the sheets, Superintendent Kim Cox said the sheets would be posted on the district's website.

Cox also said gas from the wells isn't used in the high school. Rather, it is used at the other district buildings at Trigon Park and Wolcott Street.

Bowcock acknowledges the DOH report on the outbreak of tics among 16 students at the school included information on a search of published medical reports that found only one case of mercury-induced tics.

The main thing Bowcock said he wants to do is get answers to questions and provide the community with information.

"About 50 percent of what we do is point people in the right direction," Bowcock said. "About 25 percent is education and empowering people to ask the right questions."

As for looking for a reason to file a lawsuit, as some have speculated, Bowcock said, "That's just not what we do."

He also said during his entire career with Brockovich, they've never been involved in a lawsuit against a public entity.

"We go after polluters, and big ones," Bowcock said.

There are questions Bowcock would still like answered about the school, such as: Was fill dirt used? Is the school built on a swamp? (He hadn't seen The Batavian's report dispelling that myth.)

These questions could be answered easily by the school district if the district would just release the reports he believes are on file about construction of the school.

If fill was used, he said, there would be a report on the origin of the fill. There should be reports readily available on soil tests prior to construction of the school.

At Saturday's meeting, Mary Ellen Holvey, senior industrial hygienist for Leader Professional Services, said her team reviewed a Level 1 environmental report prepared prior to construction of the school.

That report is now available on the district website. The report confirms the school itself is not built on a swamp, but there were unregistered wetlands to the north and south of the site.

In 2000, when the report was prepared, no environmental waste was known to be within a one-mile radius of the site. And though there had been an oil spill at 9200 South St. Road, the DEC determined the spill was properly cleaned up.

The report found no preexisting environmental problems on the site.

Bowcock said he's still trying to gain permission to do testing at the school and said an assertion by Cox that Bill Albert, with the law firm Harris Beach, asked Bowcock for a sampling plan that he hasn't submitted was inaccurate.

Albert, he said, is supposed to get back to him on his request for "a seat at the table" with Leader on what testing should take place.

"We need to at least have conversation, or we're just shooting in the dark," Bowcock said.

He said one thing that has hampered his efforts is the media misreporting the purpose of this trip to Le Roy a week ago. He said he wasn't there to gather soil samples. He carried a spade just be able to move dirt, rocks and brush to make visual inspections. The purpose of the trip was to do a first reconnaissance on the topography and check sites of possible contamination that people recommended he check.

He took three water samples, he said, just because he had the kits with him and was given permission to take the samples, but that wasn't a primary part of his mission.

The Lehigh Valley Derailment Site is an example of the kind of site he was asked to check out, and though he doubts the site is connected to problems at the school, he wants to know more about it and more about the TCE plume created by the wreck.

He isn't convinced, he said, the plume is moving exactly as the EPA has described it. If he's right, there may be area residents who are on well water when they should be on municipal water.

"You've got the largest TCE spill in the federal system and they forgot about it," Bowcock said. "I realize they have 15,000 sites, so I could understand them losing a few, but not the big one."

While Bowcock isn't beating the drum for an environmental cause, he does want to ensure that all environmental causes have been ruled out.

He doesn't agree with Cox that an environmental cause wouldn't discriminate.

He noted that Brockovich is allergic to sulfur and has a reaction whenever they go onto sites with sulfur, but sulfur doesn't bother Bowcock.

While saying it is outside of his specialty to talk about medical conditions, he questioned Cox's expertise to make such a statement.

"Environmental things do discriminate and they discriminate based on our individual genetic makeup," Bowcock said.

And with that in mind, he said he wants to finish his work in Le Roy.

"I feel a responsibility to close it properly," Bowcock said. "If it takes six days, six weeks or six years, it is what it is."

More documents from the school district:

• Summary of Leader's recommendations
• Derailment plume map
• Lehigh reference map

UPDATE, Monday, Feb. 6, 12:56 p.m.: Le Roy Superintendent Kim Cox emailed the following response to Bowcock's statements. These two paragraphs are from an email discussing other matters.

I also wanted to clarify some misinformation contained in your recent article. Mr. Bowcock has contacted the District only twice, once through Bill Albert with a voice mail after hours on Wednesday evening and Bill responded on Thursday. At that time, he was invited to submit his work plan for testing and told it would be passed on to Leader, our environmental consulting firm, to take under consideration. Mr. Bowcock told Mr. Albert that he would not submit a work plan.

The second contact by Mr. Bowcock was a letter sent to me through an email late Friday afternoon requesting permission to attend our community meeting on Saturday. I responded through an email that he was welcome to attend the meeting, and I also let him know that I understood he declined to submit a work plan but if was reconsidering to let us know.

He obviously chose not to attend our meeting and I have not heard from him since that time. To be clear, he has not made any additional requests for information from the District, so I am puzzled by comments that he made to you that the district has been unwilling to share the MSDS sheets with him.

As we stated in our community meeting when asked about the MSDS sheets, we said we would post them to our website. Because we are required to maintain MSDS sheets for 30 years, there are many documents. We are working as quickly as we can to sort through those documents to separate the ones related to the high school so people have the relevant information. These will be scanned and posted as soon as that process is completed. In addition, these documents are public record so anyone who chooses can request seeing all of the MSDS sheets.

UPDATE Monday, Feb. 6, 1:36 p.m.: Bob Bowcock released a letter he's written to Kim Cox (PDF). (Note: this actually arrived in my inbox before Cox sent the email referenced above, but I didn't notice it until after posting the above update.)

A shed fire is reported at 7786 Bank St. Road.

A chief on scene reported a full involved fire in a 10x10 shed about 15 feet from a house.

Town of Batavia Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 5:01 p.m.: The fire is burning itself out and the house is not threatened. Engines can continue response non-emergency.

View Larger Map

Around noon, Batavia police received a report from an area resident of youths on the roof Excide Battery / Yancey's Fancy building on Ganson Avenue.

When police responded, they spotted people apparently trying to hide from officers.

Two officers found a way on the roof, located the boys and held them until city firefighters could respond with Ladder 15. (It's apparently easier to get on the roof, than off.)

Police said the teens would be taken back to the station, their parents called, questioned, and then they would decide whether to charge them with trespass or just turn them over to their parents.

In all, six boys age approximately 14 or 15 to 16 or 17, were involved.

The girls who are continuing treatment at Dent Neurologic Institute are getting better, according to Dr. Laszlo Mechtler.

The girls who have been influenced by media hype and discontinued treatment aren't doing as well, Mechtler said Saturday evening in an exclusive interview with The Batavian.

"The ones who are not appearing on TV are getting better," Mechtler said. "The ones who are on TV are getting worse or staying the same."

Of the original 12 girls who were part of the first group of patients suffering from tic symptoms at Le Roy High School, 10 sought treatment at Dent, two didn't, and some have broken off treatment, Mechtler said. Of the 18 patients that doctors are aware of, 14 have been to Dent.

But even for the girls continuing treatment, erroneous and sensational media reports are not helping them, he said.

The girls see reports about TCE and national personalities proclaim, "Oh, my God, we can save thousands of lives," and going so far as suggesting bodies being exhumed from cemetaries for investigation, and the girls take such reports to heart, Mechtler said.

"We had six or seven girls who were doing so much better, but after the media reports, in three weeks time, they're in my office crying, 'this chemical is in my head and I'm damaged for the rest of my life,' " Mechtler said.

When media reports haven't focused on environmental issues, the other issue to spring up has been PANDAS (aka, PANS), and Mechtler said PANDAS was ruled out as a cause of the tics for some very specific reasons.

First, and even though some physicians disagree, PANDAS is very rare.

Imagine your chance of winning the lottery, according to the analogy used by Mechtler. What are the odds? Now imagine you and 11 associates all independently picking the same numbers and winning the same drawing.

That's how unlikely it is that the original 12 girls suffered from PANDAS, according to Mechtler.

And that's all dependent on PANDAS even being a real disease, which not all medical officials agree on either, Mechtler said.

The other thing the media hasn't known when reporting on the subject, Mechtler said, is that Dr. Susan Swedo, who first described PANDAS in 1998, consulted with Dent on the Le Roy 12. She also concluded PANDAS wasn't the issue and has agreed with the conversion disorder diagnosis.

Mechtler said he's been told that Dr. Swedo will appear on a syndicated television show either Monday or Tuesday and confirm her support of the conversion disorder diagnosis.

From the beginning, Mechtler said, the media have failed to properly understand conversion disorder and have drawn on erronenous information about environmental and infectious causes to sensationalize the story.

That hasn't been good for his patients, he said.

"In conversion disorder, the worse thing you can do is interview these teenagers and reinforce the disorder and increase their stress," Mechtler said.

He explained that conversion disorder is far more common than people realize or the media has reported.

The media have also misreported -- and some people have misstated -- that conversion disorder is a diagnosis that can only be reached after all other possible causes have been eliminated, calling it a "diagnosis of exclusion."

He said a good neurolgist will recognize conversion disorder on the first consultation with a patient.

He used the example of hysterical blindness, which is a form of conversion disorder. If a patient claims blindness and the neurologist suspects conversion disorder, all a doctor needs to do is put his hand in front of the patient's eye and track the patient's involuntary eye movement. There's no need for environmental or infectious disease tests to arrive at the correct diagnosis.

It's the same with just about any diagnosis of conversion disorder. The initial exam will tell a physician a good deal about what is going on with a patient.

What's unusual in the Le Roy case is that so many people have come down with the same symptoms -- 16 students, plus one adult in Le Roy and one person in Greece.

In that regard, the Le Roy situation falls into the category of Mass Psycogenic Illness.

The illness began with an index case, a girl who already had Tourette Syndrome, but in October, after suffering a head injury, developed more pronounced tics.

One fact the media have repeatedly misreported, Mechtler said, is that the girls involved don't know each other.

The girls, along a chain of connections, are woven together, Mechtler said. One healthy girl spent the night with a girl who had tics and the next morning, developed tics, for example.

"The networking here among these girls is far more intensive and far more complex than the media is aware of," Mechtler said.

Bullying has also played a part in excerbating and spreading the disorder, Mechtler said.

"We have known some bullying is going on," Mechtler said. "This bullying has occured prior to symptons occuring and since that time, some of the bullying may have increased. Bullying is another form of stress inducer among young people."

When it comes to stress, Mechtler said, reporters who have focused on environmental issues and downplayed the role of stress in conversion disorder have no idea of the amont of stress the original 12 girls went through prior to developing symptons.

Mechtler said he can't discuss examples, but he said in every case, the life stressors uncovered for each of the girls have been incredible.

"In some cases, it's everything you could imagine and worse," Mectler said.

If anything good can come of the Le Roy case, Mechtler said, it's that it opened an opportunity to better understand conversion disorder, and the national media coverage has introduced many people to the illness.

"A lot more doctors and a lot more patients are going to be more comfortable with the diagnosis," Mechtler said. "A doctor can say, 'You've got conversion disorder like they had in Le Roy,' and the patient is going to be more accepting."

Because conversion disorder is an illness that not many people have known about, even though it is very common, Mechtler said, it's been a very difficult illness to tell patients about.

"How hard is it to tell a patient who is scared and upset, 'I've got good news. Your symptoms are all in your brain,' " Mechtler said. "It's difficult to tell a mother or father that it's all in their child's head. They have a hard time accepting it. It's like you can have a patient who comes in who has had headaches for three weeks and after I finish the examination I say 'It's all stress related' and the person looks at me and says, 'It's not a brain tumor? I don't believe it.' Some times people don't want to believe the good news that it can be treated."

Mechtler said doctors still don't know as much as they would like to about the disorder.

One benefit of the Le Roy case is that several of the patients have agreed to  specialized functional MRIs so that their brain scans can be compared to people without conversion disorder and perhaps neurologisist will learn how the brain changes in relation to the disorder.

"Maybe we can get more information out of this bad thing, and maybe something good can come of it," Mechtler said.

Two scientific papers Mechtler referenced during our conversation:

• Moving from PANDAS to CANS
• Streptococcal Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Exacerbations of Tic and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

UPDATED Sunday morning to improve some writing, add a couple of facts left out and clarify a statement or two.

On a poster in the library at Le Roy High School is a quote from Sherlock Holmes: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

While a state report issued Friday, ennumerates specific reasons there are no environmental or infectious causes behind 16 students developing tics since the fall, there are still doubters.

Many of those doubters were at a community meeting Saturday morning at Le Roy HS, some even getting quite angry.

The meeting demonstrated that Le Roy has become a divided community. Speakers who backed, or seemed to back, the conversion disorder diagnosis were applauded by one group of people. The people who demanded more testing and accused Superintendent Kim Cox of not doing enough to protect their children were applauded by another group of people.

The meeting was called to introduce the media and the community to the staff of  Leader Professional Services, with primary offices in Rochester and Buffalo.

The morning began with a press conference, then the public meeting, and then Cox took more media questions after the meeting.

Mary Ellen Holvey (top inset photo), senior industrial hygienist for Leader, presented about a dozen slides (audio link below) outlining the testing and environmental data gathered so far and what additional testing will be done.

Leader is beginning with more air quality testing because, Holvey explained, the results will help researchers determine what soil testing might be needed and where to do the testing.

Any contaminants in the soil, Holvey explained, will manifest via thorough air testing.

Soil testing must be done in a methodical manner, according to Leader staff. It involves a grid-pattern plan, specialized equipment and constant sterilization.  One researcher noted, you don't just show up with a spade from home depot and start digging.

While Cox didn't have the information available to discuss how much the new round of environmental testing will cost taxpayers, she said it was necessary, "because it is clear to us that our community needs more reassurance."

The environmental testing conducted in December by a researcher with BOCES should still be considered valid, Holvey said.

"The methods he used were appropriate," Holvey said. "His results were valid. I don’t disagree with his results. We’re just doing a broader-based investigation."

Cox repeated three times during the course of the morning, "Environmental causes are not going to discriminate."

"If we had an environmental cause here, we would see this in a wide spectrum of folks (effected)," Cox told the press. "We wouldn’t see just adolescent girls. We would see adults. We would see children and we would probably see a very different kind of condition."

After Holvey made her presentation, the mic was open for questions.

It didn't take long for the shouting to start.

Melissa Cianci stood up and yelled at Cox, "This school is not safe. You’re not doing anything. You’re not doing your job. You’re not doing your job.  You’re supposed to care for our children, and you’re not."

Cianci (photo, second from the bottom), tried to encourage parents to pull their children out of school until officials prove it is safe.

More than once Saturday morning, Cox said the school is safe.

Some people in the audience applauded Cianci.

Others applauded people like Tom Frew, who spoke of his daughter, who was diagnosed with mental health issues as a child and is now an educated mother and doing well.

"Try to keep your emotions under control and remember what this is all about," Frew said to parents of afflicted children. "I believe in time – it may not be next week; it may not be in the next thee weeks -- but I believe this situation will improve with your own kids."

Cox was applauded when she said, "There is so much misinformation and speculation and erroneous facts that are traveling at the speed of light. They have caused great concern and distracted us from our main mission, which is that we want our students to get better and get back to peace and normalcy. We want to assure our community that our school is a safe place to be."

About dozen people, of the many who applauded, stood as they clapped after Cox defended keeping Bob Bowcock, a researcher for Erin Brockovich, off school property a week ago.

"I think you can appreciate that we would not want just anybody to show up and just do and start digging in the ground," Cox said. "That isn’t the strategic way you do this. Reputable companies are going to go through a process.

"They need to have the background of where we’ve been and be able to map out where we need to go, otherwise we could end up missing something that is very important, or getting parts of information and not really getting a clear picture. That’s why we wanted to go with a company that has a plan for us."

Cox said school spokesman Bill Albert has talked with Bowcock and invited him to submit a plan for environmental testing to be done side-by-side with Leader, but so far, she said, Bowcock has refused to participate in such a protocol.

During the pre-meeting press conference, a journalist asked about reports of yellow ooze spotted on the athletic fields.

Cox explained that the district has learned that the yellow substance is something common to Kentucky Bluegrass sod. It's a fungus that other schools and local homeowners have experienced.

But no parents or students had ever mentioned the yellow ooze until the national media got involved.

"I got an email from California from USAToday saying, 'What’s the yellow ooze on your fields?' " Cox said. "I sent out my buildings and grounds person to look for it because we didn’t know what they were talking about.  Then we talked to some of the community members and they said, ‘Oh, sometimes when we’re out playing soccer sometimes it shows up on our shoes.' So then we researched it and found out what it was. When people ask a question, we’re going to research it and we’re going to find the answer."

There were a few questions about supposed hydrofracking at gas wells on school property, and Holvey said Leader will develop a plan for environmental testing related to the wells.

There was reportedly a spill of brine, used in hydrofracking, at a well during the summer.

In WNY, brine is the common term for salt-treated water spread on roadways to help melt ice, but in the gas industry, brine can also include barium, cadmium and chromium.

In the morning press conference, some reporters focused on dead trees and grass near a well, apparently unaware that brine, even industrial brine, contains high concentrations of salt, which is fatal to vegetation.

When a self-proclaimed environmental journalist got up to speak at the community meeting, and insisted that the school hadn't adequately addressed the brine issue, some audience members applauded his statement.

A DEC report previously found no violations related to the brine.

With so many parents still upset and concerned about whether the problem is being adequately addressed, Cox told the media after the meeting that she understood their attitudes.

"They are parents," Cox said. "These are their babies. Of course they are going to do whatever they can find an answer that is tangible and that they can fix. When it’s something that is being presented to them that’s unusual or different or a little more difficult to understand, then that (revelation of the diagnosis) is a natural reaction. Then when they're presented with a lot of information, some accurate, some inaccurate, some exaggerated, and there’s so much confusion around it, they're going to get emotional. I don’t blame people for loving their children."

Audio: Mary Ellen Holvey discusses the environmental testing plan (mp3).

After the press conference and meeting in Le Roy this morning, I decided to swing by the Lehigh Derailment Site on Gulf Road.

When I arrived, a group of workers were leaving, helped by a staff member in a hazardous waste suit (bottom photo).

A local resident came by and we chatted for awhile, and then a deputy stopped and we said hello, and about the time I was ready to leave, Rep. Kathy Hochul showed up with local officials.

All of that to say -- I didn't know Hochul would be there and she didn't know I would be there. This wasn't an arranged media event, and Hochul expressed some sensitivity to leaving that impression.

Hochul said she was passing through Le Roy, had stopped at D&R Depot for a meal, and decided she should visit the Superfund site.

"I'm committed to working with local officials and seeing what we can do to help," Hochul said. "I want them to know they have a partner and come to us when they want answers."

Without naming either Erie or Niagara counties, Hochul said any speculation about where the drums of material stored at the site are to be relocated is "premature."

"The EPA hasn't made that decision yet," Hochul said.

Evidence of stepped-up work at the site: In the top photo, there is a red Dumpster inside the fenced area on the left that wasn't there a week ago. There are three new drums at the front of the fenced-in area. In the bottom picture, there is a trailer for heavy equipment on the left side frame that wasn't there a week ago.

Officials continue to keep members of the media as far from the site as possible.

A story is coming about this morning's meeting in Le Roy.

The snowmobilers are pretty unhappy with winter in 2012 so far, but the golfers don't mind.

About 80 people showed up at Terry Hills today to get in a round on a course that is usually covered inches deep or more in snow this time of year.

"It's amazing," said Brandon Seifert, of Buffalo. "I can't believe it."

Seifert, above right, was with Matthew Olsen, in the cart, and Olsen said he was dubious when Seifert told him he got an email saying the course was open today.

"We golfed here in November and the conditions were a lot worse," Olsen said.

Colin Castile, of Amherst, was also golfing and enjoying the break from snowboarding while getting the chance to tune up his game before spring.

"It’s nice to have a place that’s relatively local that’s open right now," Castile said.

Three of the original 12 students who displayed tic-like symptoms at Le Roy High School had preexisting conditions, according to a report released today by the NYS Department of Health.

One of the students had previously been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and suffered an acceleration of symptoms during the onset of the 12 cases.

The other eight students were diagnosed with conversion disorder.

Three more students have been identified since the DOH started preparing its report.

The age range of the students is 13 to 19.

From the report, "All 12 students were evaluated by Work Fit Medical and eight of the 12 were evaluated by DENT Neurologic Institute."

Two of the three students with preexisting conditions had been tic free for some time, but experienced an exacerbation of tic symptoms during this time period.

Of the original 12, significant life stressors were identified in 11 patients.

One of the original 12 students did not seek medical treatment.

The report goes into some detail on the investigative process the DOH went through to examine the case.

As part of the environmental evaluation, the DOH states it, "consulted with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment Superfund Site and reviewed information pertaining to the Lapp Insulator and Target Products sites to determine the potential for spread of contamination to the school campus."

It also states:

Interviews of the 12 cases did not reveal any common environmental exposures, other than attendance at the same school. The occurrence of symptoms in only female students and the range of time of symptom onset are not consistent with an environmental cause.

An exhaustive search of prior reports of environmental contamination causing tic disorders showed only a couple of cases worldwide, according to the report.

As for infectious causes, the 12 students did not have common experiences to explain an infectious onset.

"Drug use was ruled out based on interviews with all the cases, and toxicology screens on seven of the cases," states the report.

Seven students received Gardisil.

"Six of seven cases who received Gardisil had onset of tic symptoms greater than one year after their last dose of vaccine," states the report.

According to the report, none of the cases were consistent with PANDAS.

The report also states:

A post-licensure safety study of HPV vaccine among 189,629 females completed by an independent safety team of experts, identified no association between vaccination with Gardisil and neurologic disorders

In its conclusion, the report states:

The healthcare providers and public health agencies involved in this investigation consider this cluster of cases to be the result of conversion disorder/mass psychogenic illness.

...

While outbreaks of psychiatric or neurologic disease without clear explanation are unusual, similar cases have been documented (11-14). The conversion disorder/mass psychogenic illness conclusion is based on individual medical evaluations, the presence of significant life stressors, and demographic characteristics of the cases. It is uncertain what role conversion disorder played in the recurrence/acceleration of symptoms in the three cases with preexisting medical conditions.

The report encourages families of affected children to continue individualized care with their treating physicians.

Read the full report (PDF).