“Right now the hospitals are taking the appropriate steps to treat those who are infected and contain the scabies,” Suffoletto said.
RELATED: 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCABIES
On Monday, at least 86 employees at Kettering Medical Center were reported to have been diagnosed and treated for scabies, which causes intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash, which results from tiny parasites known as itch mites burrowing into the skin to lay eggs, causing an allergic reaction in the host.
Since then, the number of infections at the hospital at 3535 Southern Blvd. in Kettering has grown to at least 106 employees, including five who were treated for signs and symptoms of scabies since Tuesday, Kettering spokeswoman Liz Long said late Wednesday afternoon.
Long offered no other details about the outbreak at Sycamore hospital, located at 4000 Miamisburg Centerville Road.
Scabies has a two- to six-week incubation period before symptoms appear, so some new cases were anticipated at Kettering, according to hospital officials, who said the hospital is undergoing a building-wide decontamination.
The infections were first detected at Kettering about two weeks ago among nurses and other hospital employees, according to Long, who said the infections were traced back to a single patient: “We had a patient who had crusted scabies, which is a highly contagious form of scabies…and apparently it was transmitted to some of our employees.”
RELATED: Scabies outbreak reported at Kettering hospital
Scabies is common in hospitals and nursing homes, but the spread of scabies is highly unusual unless those infected have Norwegian scabies, otherwise known as crusted scabies, which is a more severe form of the disease and the type present at Kettering.
Scabies is typically spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies, and is most commonly transmitted by sexual partners. But the disease can also be spread by inert objects infested with itch mites, which also occurred at Kettering, Long said.
Scabies, sometimes referred to as the seven-year itch, is non-lethal and easily treatable with a number readily available medications, including permethrin, crotamiton and lindane creams and ivermectin pills. The condition rarely results in serious illness, but the itching and rash can last for weeks even after the infection has been treated.
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