Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:28:04.685Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Scabies Epidemic: Price and Prejudice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jacyr Pastenak ,
Rosana Richtmann ,
Antonio P.P. Ganme ,
Edwal A.C. Rodrigues ,
Fermina B.M. Silva ,
Maria de Lurdes Hirata  and
Suely Ciosak
Jacyr Pastenak*
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Rosana Richtmann
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Antonio P.P. Ganme
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Edwal A.C. Rodrigues
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Fermina B.M. Silva
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Maria de Lurdes Hirata
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Suely Ciosak
Affiliation:
Real e Benemérita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Hospital Sao Joaquim, Sao Paulo, Brazil
*
Hospital da Real e Benemèrita Sociedade Portuguesa de Beneficencia, Rua Maestro Cardim, 769-01322-001, Sao Paulo, S.P., Brazil
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Scabies epidemics are not unusual, and the recommended way of stopping them is by simultaneous treatment of everybody in the facility; this has been known since the last century, when Norwegian scabies was a problem in Norway. When this is not done, scabies epidemics can smolder for months. Scabies should not spread with good infection control measures, but we learned that a good infection control service is not enough. Efforts have to be done to educate everybody in the hospital, including laundry workers, and to improve work conditions.

Type
Readers' Forum
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 15 , Issue 8 , August 1994 , pp. 540 - 542
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Holness, DL, Dekoven, JG, Nethercott, JR. Scabies in chronic health care institutions. Arch Dermatol 1992;128:1257–1260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Glover, R, Young, L, Goltz, RW. Norwegian scabies in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: report of a case resulting in death from associated sepsis. J Am Acad Dermatol 1987;16:396–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Magee, KL, Hebert, AA, Rapini, RI? Crusted scabies in a patient with chronic graft-versus-host disease. J Am Acad Dermatol 1991;25:889–891.Google Scholar
4. Skinner, SM, DeVillez, RL. Sepsis associated with Norwegian scabies in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Cutis 1992;503:213–216.Google Scholar
5. Arico, M, Noto, G, La Rocca, E, Pravata, G, Bivona, A Localized crusted scabies in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Clin Exp Dermatol 1992;17:339–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Lettau, LA Nosocomial transmission and infection control aspects of parasitic and ectoparasitic diseases. Part III. Ectoparasites/summary and conclusions. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1991;12:179–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Mocsny, N. Care and treatment of scabies. Adv Clin Care 1990;5:23–26.Google Scholar
8. Johnsen, C, Bellin, E, Nadal, E, Simone, V. An outbreak of scabies in a New York City jail. Am J Infect Control 1991;19:162–163.Google Scholar
9. Carslaw, RW, Dobson, RM, Hood, DJK, Taylor, RN. Mites in the environment of cases of Norwegian scabies. Br J Dermatol 1975;92:333–337.Google Scholar
10. Sandvik, H. Control of scabies in the district of Ytre Nord-hordland. An experiment within community medicine in the 1860s. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 1993;113:40–43.Google Scholar
11. Bannatyne, RM, Wells, B, Macmillan, S, Patterson, T, Cunningham, G, Tellier, R. Bringing your control program up to scratch with a scabies outbreak. Presented at the Third Annual Meeting of The Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America; April 18-20, 1993; Chicago, Illinois. Abstract M13.Google Scholar