Staff or patients who have been in contact with an infected person and communicate with them are determined by the hospital, which has branches in Arnhem, Zevenaar and Philipp. “If necessary, they will be treated preventively,” the hospital said.
Because the hospital is an open organization, with many people coming in and out and sometimes being treated for a long time, it is difficult to prevent infection. This is why we are on high alert at the Regentstedt: Patients or staff with suspected infection are referred to a dermatologist.”
Significant increase in the number of patients
Since October last year, GPs have seen more people with scabies than usual. This year, an average of 2,900 people per week visited their GP for an infectious skin disease. This is more than double compared to 2020, when the rate of scabies infection was 1,400 patients each week.
This fall, the number of cases continues to increase. At the end of November, the number of patients reporting to their GP exceeded 30 cases per 100,000 population for the first time in nearly two years. Once the scabies mite is lodged under the skin, it is very difficult to get rid of it.
People contract scabies by coming into contact with the skin of an infected person for at least fifteen minutes. Transmission can be through prolonged holding of someone’s hand, physical care or sexual contact with someone who has scabies. A patient is contagious if there are mites on the skin, even if the person is not yet infected.
