|
Community control of scabies There is no recent estimate of the extent and prevalence of
endemic scabies in Aboriginal communities across Canada. As in other parts of
the world, epidemics tend to follow a cyclical pattern, occurring every 15 to 30
years. For the most part, health care workers treat symptomatic cases and
contacts as they present. This approach, while eradicating symptoms in patients,
often does little to alter the overall prevalence of scabies infestation within
a community. If you are not sure what scabies symptoms would entail, see below
or on symptom checker on everydayhealth.com for more information. Once you have verified the
symptoms, you should definitely seek medical help. It is highly contagious so
take care not to pass it on whenever possible. Only by introducing mass
treatment programs for a whole community, within a short period of time, may the
prevalence of infestation be reduced. Studies have shown that this is possible
by using either permethrin or ivermectin (ivermectin is not licensed for use in
Canada). When properly applied, 5% permethrin (Kwellada-P Lotion, Reed & Carnick,
Canada; Nix Dermal Creme, Glaxo Wellcome, Canada) has been found to be as
effective as ivermectin. The advantage of ivermectin is that it is a one dose,
oral medication.
|
