MONTEBELLUNA – He contracted the scabies in a retirement home in the Montebellunese area. But no one noticed it until the woman, a 95-year-old woman, was hospitalized in Montebelluna. A hospitalization that took place on March 6 and lasted 3 days, for pathologies that with the contagious disease and very rare have nothing to do. However, it was already a few hours after hospitalization that the staff of the San Valentino perceived something strange when they visited the old woman. The woman, who had a very strong itchin fact, showed conspicuous signs of irritation along the pubis. Thus, not without some surprise, the operators soon understood what the disease was. Which, if they had not intervened as quickly as possible, could have spread with worrying consequences. «The old woman – explains the general manager Francesco Benazzi, she arrived from the retirement home already with scabies. As soon as the doctors understood her problem, after having isolated her, they proceeded to subject the patients who had been in contact with her to preventive treatment. Fortunately, no one was infected ». At the same time, the Sisp operators took into consideration the nursing home of origin, because there was a risk that an epidemic had spread. «Instead – continues Benazzi – the contagion had not spread even there. Obviously, however, all the preventive treatments were also carried out in that case ». However, the management underlines the exceptionality of the thing. “It has affected us too, as it is a very rare disease. Generally it occurs when there is a situation of poor hygiene which can contribute to creating scales in the skin, where the parasite more easily infiltrates ». Scabies is in fact an infestation due to a parasitic mite. It is not beautiful to look at, because it causes scratching and therefore can infect the skin a lot. In the last decade in Italy there has been an increase in cases probably due to the growing spread of travel to countries where the disease is more widespread. Factors favoring its spread are poor hygiene and community life, particularly in nursing homes, dormitories and nursery schools. The disease can be transmitted by objects, but more often by direct skin-to-skin contact, with a high risk after prolonged contact. In this case, however, the problem was limited and on Wednesday the woman was discharged.
(l.good)