ROCHESTER — A mysterious white powder that came in the mail with her dress has forced Patricia McBride and her husband, Mike, from their home and caused her several health problems.
Tests have shown that the substance isn't a biohazard, such as anthrax or ricin, and a private laboratory in Somersworth has indicated the substance is micro sized polystyrene particles.
However, McBride is convinced the substance included something else that is making her sick.
On Friday, officials from EnviroVantage of Epping were at the McBrides' Erin Lane home attempting to vacuum up additional particles of the substance. The collected particles have been sent away for additional testing.
"I want to know what this is," said a frustrated McBride, who has spent the last two weeks living in a camper parked in her driveway.
McBride's issues started on Oct. 3 when a dress that she had ordered came in the mail. The dress came third party from China.
"When I looked at the dress it didn't appear navy blue as ordered and I found it was because there was white powder all over it and in the clear bag which was folded over and closed with two pieces of tape," she said.
Within an hour of handling the dress McBride said her hands began to itch. A few days later she was at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital with a swollen, hot, itchy right hand and itchy hot left hand and two huge welts. She was given some medication and it relieved the initial reaction, she said.
At the advising of a family member, McBride called police to alert them about the substance and members of the fire department responded to her home.
The substance was bagged and taken to the Rochester Fire Department where it was tested by regional Haz-Mat team. It tested negative for being a biohazard, according to an after incident report.
McBride said she was told to vacuum her home, which she did with a mask and gloves. She was also told since the substance tested negative for being a biohazard, the city's responsibility was done and she would have to seek the services of a private lab if she wanted to know what the substance was.
"I was extremely upset that this substance was in my home and being treated so lightly," she said.
McBride then tried to get the substance tested at the state lab in Concord but was told they didn't have enough white powder to conduct a sample. In addition, somewhere between the fire department and lab, the original clear plastic dress bag the substance was in went missing, according to McBride.
From there, McBride said she struggled to reach the state and get a clear answer to whether they tested anything at all.
The McBrides' struggles continued as they decided to move into their camper on Oct. 7. McBride said she took her C-Pap machine for her sleep apnea with her, wiping down the top of it because it had some of the white powder on it.
"I didn't even think about the head gear and mask which were between my bed and nightstand and took them out to the camper with the machine," she said.
McBride had originally opened the package in her bedroom in the area those items were kept.
She put the mask on to take a nap and woke with a large fat lip. She returned to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and was given some medication.
McBride said she used the machine again on Oct. 9 and woke up with a swollen tongue, a sore and swollen throat, hoarseness and a few welts on her head. She would later go to Portsmouth Regional Hospital where she was given high doses of steroids.
The problems persisted and McBride was referred to a specialist in Kittery, Maine, and given more medication. McBride said she is now being referred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"The state doesn't want to hear from us anymore and won't release what they have tested for and at this point we don't really know if they did any testing because they kept telling us they didn't have much powder to go on, but they did test for anthrax and ricin," she said. "So we continue to live in our camper not knowing what this substance is and not able to get our house cleaned without exposing somebody else."
Chris Adamski, chief of disease control at the state Department of Health and Human Services, wasn't aware of McBride's case but said it's state protocol to test for anthrax and other biological threats.
If something is deemed a biological threat, the state would be involved in that case, she said.
"We can rule out biological threats, but can't identify all chemicals," she said.
Dr. Karen Simone, a clinical toxicologist with the Northern New England Poison Center, said it's unlikely that someone would get symptoms like the ones described by McBride from polystyrene particles.
"Polystyrene is generally not thought of as being very harmful at all," she said. "It's in stuff we use every day."
Simone said people who are exposed to large amounts of polystyrene dust can become irritated by it, but noted it would have to be a really large amount.
McBride said she is well aware about polystyrene not being considered harmful and that's why she feels it could be something else.
In addition to contacting EnviroVantage, McBride has reached out to several local and state politicians, seeking help in identifying the substance.
As for the dress, McBride had ordered it for a friend's wedding but never attended the wedding because she was too sick.
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