There has been a recent spate of reports about the spread of scabies, an infectious skin disease caused by parasites. So how dangerous is scabies, and what can you do to protect yourself?
How is scabies transmitted?
Scabies is normally spread through close skin-to-skin contact. Because the mites cannot move that fast and are very tiny, contact needs to last several minutes. Brief periods of contact such as hugs and handshakes don't generally last long enough to facilitate their spread. Transmission is often between parents and children or within couples.
However, it can also take place via textiles shared with an infected persons, such as bed linen, clothing or upholstery on public transport. The increased spread of scabies in recent years can be attributed in part to the upturn in travel, with people sleeping more in hotel beds and other forms of shared accommodation. The parasites cannot live long without a human host, however, making transmission via textiles a much less common route.
How do you get rid of these unwelcome visitors?
Scabies had been considered to have almost died out, but cases in Switzerland have been on the rise in recent years, and particularly since the start of this year. The infection is not dangerous, but the itching in particular makes the condition very unpleasant for sufferers. Scabies should be treated as follows:
- A medical professional diagnoses the condition using a dermatoscope and prescribes suitable medication. Treatment is normally with antiparasitics in tablet form and a cream to treat the skin.
- All members of the household should be treated with the drug at the same time, so that the mites cannot move from host to host.
- Nails must be cut before starting treatment, to prevent the parasites from lingering underneath.
- All textiles that people have come into contact with for an extended period must either be washed at 60° (clothing, bed linen, etc.), kept in an airtight plastic container for a week (non-washable linens) or treated with mite spray (sofas, car seats, etc.).
Follow-up
Following treatment, everyone in the household should be closely monitored for any signs of further itching. If there are any doubts, you should have the skin re-examined. Santé24 offers dermatological consultations for SWICA customers. SWICA also works with the OnlineDoctor platform, which SWICA customers can use to ask medical experts to assess their skin problems.
