Scabies spreads in kindergartens – “There is no magic” – 2024-03-15 23:49:13

Scabies has become local epidemics in Finland during the winter and spring.

Epidemics have mostly occurred in kindergartens and family circles, where there is a lot of close contact.

Scabies is by far the most commonly transmitted from skin to skin when skin contact lasts for some time.

It is almost impossible to avoid close, long-lasting contacts in daycare centers.

– There are no good practices in daycare centers that would be able to completely prevent scabies, says the infectious disease doctor of the Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) Santtu Heinonen.

Heinonen answered Iltalehti’s readers’ questions about reasons in IL-TV’s situation studio.

Scabies usually requires much longer skin contact than shaking hands to catch it. Adobe Stock / AOP

As a nest of scabies for Phemona?

According to Heinonen, daycare centers are very challenging places when it comes to scabies.

According to Heinonen, it is necessary to trust that after receiving a scabies diagnosis, the family will take measures according to the instructions to get rid of scabies, and hopefully the spread of scabies will also stop.

– At least I don’t have a magic trick on how to prevent the spread of scabies in kindergartens, Heinonen regretted.

Heinonen does not consider it very likely that scabies could travel home from daycare with a child’s soft toy. Scabies can be caught through textiles such as soft toys, but this is known to happen very rarely.

– Very unlikely, but not quite a zero risk, if that teddy bear exists among the entire kindergarten group, Heinonen assesses the teddy bear’s potential as a substitute for scabies.