When one of the residents at Extendicare York, a Sudbury long-term care home, told the staff they had a rash on July 11, administrator Sandra Moroso immediately notified the home’s family physician.
The family physician then called in dermatologist Dr. Lyne Giroux, who determined the resident had scabies.
Between then and now, Giroux has diagnosed two residents with scabies, and said that 13 others likely have it.
Although scabies, a highly contagious skin condition, isn’t a reportable illness, Moroso sought advice from the Sudbury and District Health Unit, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Ministry of Labour.
Extendicare staff also called family members and staff on Friday evening and over the weekend, Moroso said. However, at least one family member, Irma Kaatari, said she didn’t receive a call.
“I was really shocked I didn’t get a call,”she said Kaatari, adding staff told her they couldn’t get hold of her.
Doors to the facility, which is home to 288 people, are now locked to visitors as staff apply lotion to residents and wash their clothing and bedding.
Visitors, Moroso said, will be welcomed late Wednesday or Thursday.
She advised anyone who has visited the home to apply the over-the-counter lotion Nix or Kwellada P, change their bedding, vacuum the floors, pillows and plush animals, and clean their home.
Scabies is a mite that burrows under the skin, said manager of clinical service at the health unit, Lisa Mills. “It’s in the community.”
The website Caring for Kids says scabies is caused by tiny insects called mites. The mites dig deep in the skin and cause a very itchy rash. Scabies spreads from person to person by touch or by contact with the clothes or personal items of someone who has it.
The mites can live on clothes, other objects and off skin for four days. The mites will die after four days if the items are stored in a plastic bag. Washing clothes or other personal items and bed sheets and blankets in hot water and then putting them in a dryer on the hot cycle also gets rid of the mites.
