Outbreaks of Scabies in Schools and Use of Ivermectin

Abstract

At Pentecost 2017 outbreaks of scabies occurred in three schools in Ploen County. Several classes were supposed to go on an excursion or had returned from an excursion with symptomatic kids. Rapid investigation, on site outbreak confirmation, home visits of the environment of the index cases, simultaneous mass treatment and post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with Ivermectin according to the outbreak characteristics were applied. The index case of school A was ill since 5 months, but was misdiagnosed as eczema. Not all cases were linked to this index case. The entire school was treated in three steps within a 10-day period: step 1 began 48 h after notification. The attack rate was 6.4% (19 out of 298 pupils). A total of 93% of the kids and 100% of the teaching staff were treated. For school B with two sporadic and independent cases, an alert warning was issued. In school C, the two classes with cases were treated and according to the contact pattern two further classes were physically examined: 7 out of 39 (18%) of the kids were symptomatic, but none in the contact classes. The endemicity of scabies appears to be much higher than previously assumed. With the use of Ivermectin, the local public health department could act quickly and demonstrate that interventional public health is possible. However, several obstacles had to be overcome, but parents and teachers were cooperative and thankful.