A scabies outbreak in a diabetic and collagen disease ward: Management and prevention

Scabies is an infection caused by Sarcoptes scabiei. In developed countries, scabies remains an important public health problem in hospitals and care facilities among elderly or immunocompromised patients. There are a number of medical providers who have not experienced scabies and there has been confusion surrounding its management and prevention. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify the optimal approach for the management and prevention of scabies. A scabies outbreak occurred between June 2014 and October 2014 in the Toho University School of Medicine, Omori Hospital (Tokyo, Japan), and the current study investigates factors concerning the outbreak, such as disease recognition, diagnostic strategy, medical staff experience and correspondence after the outbreak occurred. Six patients were newly diagnosed with scabies including patients, medical staff and family of the medical staff. An infection control committee was implemented and required a follow-up survey of 181 people (144 patients and 37 medical staff). It took ~4 months to resolve the outbreak. Scabies is highly infectious, and sufficient knowledge is required to care for the patients and prevent the infection of healthy people. In this example, the spread of infection was controlled by prompt action.