Itchy skin disease Numerous calls from doctors and Zurich residents about scabies

The medical hotline of the Zurich Health Directorate is currently receiving an increasing number of calls about scabies. It has been on the increase in the canton since the beginning of the year.

Last month, doctors and institutions contacted a hotline every day about scabies, which had been on the increase in the canton since the beginning of the year. The public also had questions about the itchy skin disease.

The medical hotline, the contact point for the population, recorded around 100 calls about scabies, as the Zurich Department of Health told Keystone-SDA on Wednesday. There was no particular regional concentration.

Many of the doctors' questions could have been clarified via the new hotline. Around 200 doctors also took part in a training course on scabies.

At the beginning of the year, there was a cluster of scabies cases in daycare centers in Winterthur and Zurich. The health department therefore took measures in mid-June. It launched consultation hours at the children's hospital and the cantonal hospital in Winterthur and started a hotline. However, only a few cases of hardship had to be referred to consultation hours, according to the Health Directorate.

Mainly in daycare centers and schools

Scabies mites are arachnids that dig fine, tunnel-shaped tunnels in the horny layer of the skin and lay their eggs there. They are mainly transmitted from person to person through skin contact, but transmission through laundry, clothing and blankets is also possible.

Scabies mainly occurs in daycare centers and schools, but outbreaks also occur in asylum centers and prisons.

When it comes to scabies mites, Switzerland and the canton of Zurich are flying blind. Unlike in Germany, for example, there is no obligation to report this itchy skin disease in Switzerland. Therefore, such mite infestations are not recorded statistically.

SDA