Nine fall ill with scabies

RIYADH: Nine people were found with scabies in Laith province in Makkah region on Thursday, the Ministry of Health announced here on Friday.

Health Ministry spokesman Faisal Al-Zahrani said those infected are from local schools. They include four male and two female students, a male security guard and two female security guards.
Al-Zahrani said the ministry has also sent a special medical team as back up to health professionals in the region to help with the treatment of patients. There was no cause for alarm, with treatment merely requiring application of mild cream on affected areas of the body.
He said the ministry was planning to carry out an awareness program about the disease so that there is no panic among residents.
According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, human scabies is caused by an infestation of the skin by the human itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis). The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs.
The most common symptoms of scabies are intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash. The scabies mite usually is spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies.
Scabies occurs worldwide and affects people of all races and social classes. It can spread rapidly under crowded conditions where close body contact is frequent. Institutions such as nursing homes, extended-care facilities, and prisons are often sites of scabies outbreaks.
The first time a person gets scabies they usually have no symptoms during the first two to six weeks. Treatment should be given to both the infected person and to household members and sexual contacts, particularly those who have had prolonged direct skin-to-skin contact with the infected person.
Both sexual and close personal contacts who have had direct prolonged skin-to-skin contact with an infected person in the preceding month should be examined and treated. All persons should be treated at the same time to prevent re-infection. Scabies may sometimes be sexually acquired in adults, but is rarely sexually acquired in children.
Bedding, clothing and towels used by infested persons or their household, sexual and close contacts during the three days before treatment should be decontaminated by washing in hot water and drying in a hot dryer, by dry-cleaning, or by sealing in a plastic bag for at least 72 hours. Scabies mites generally do not survive more than two to three days away from human skin.