The Ministry of Public Health of Haiti alerted last week to the spread of a contagious disease similar to scabies. The Ministry of Public Health of the Dominican Republic recommends good hygiene to prevent the disease. The Dominican medical authorities stress that anyone with itchy skin should not self-treat and instead see a doctor.
The general director of the Dominican Institute of Dermatology and Skin Surgery, Dr. Huberto Bogaert Diaz (IDCP), Dr. Victor Pou Soares urges Dominicans with symptoms to visit the institute to receive prescriptions from qualified staff. The specialist said that every week the institution receives between three and five cases of scabies, especially in infants during the summer season. According to reports from the health center, last year alone, 388 cases of the skin condition were registered in children.
Epidemiologist Carlos Sanchez told El Caribe that the disease is not new and has been around in developing countries for years. He says it is transmitted by the Sarcoptes scabiei mite, which gets under the skin of people and produces welts that can turn into pimples or abscesses. Local specialists say the disease is easy to treat and cure.
As reported in Listin Diario, Ivermectin, the low-cost drug that is said to have kept deaths of Covid-19 down to lows in the Dominican Republic, is now being promoted for treating this skin disease.
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El Caribe
El Caribe
El Caribe
Listin Diario
19 April 2022