My mother has been working at a nursing home for about the last month and a half. She found out today that a patient she was treating (who had had a rash for quite some time) was diagnosed with scabies. I work at an inpatient psychiatric facility. I have not been to the doctors yet as it is a holiday (and a Sunday). Should I call out tomorrow just in case so as to not spread it and go to the doctors instead? I just feel guilty going in and not knowing if I have it or not and could use some advice.
If you are not showing any symptoms, can testing be effective? I don't know! But I'd call a nurse help line and ask tonight.
If your mother does have scabies, how much close physical contact have you had with her?
If you do have scabies mites, how likely are you to come into the kind of contact at work that cause them to transfer to someone else? I just don't know how much of a risk it would be. Do you hug people? Have skin-to-skin contact? Again, in deciding what to do tomorrow I would call a nurse help line with these questions.
You are being considerate to worry about spreading something you are not even sure you have. Good for you! But you might be overly cautious as well. I hope you have access to one of those 24-help lines that can give you professional advice.
Martha, you're at quite some remove from this. Is your mother experiencing any symptoms she'll admit to? Have you been in close physical contact with her? If not, you're most unlikely to have caught anything; but if you're still worried then you'd better call work, report the facts of the situation (just the facts, not your fears), and get their instructions.
In the meantime, I hope the facility your Mom works for, is treating this patient.
Treatment is very simple, the patients is showered, lotioned/creamed down/covered in the medicated preparation, there are several on the market. Then allow it to absorb into the skin, dress, and wash off the skin after 8 hours or the next day, depending on the treatment. The Scabie mites can continue to cause intense itching for days to weeks after treatment, which comes from the debris (feces/waste) that the mites leave behind in their tracts/burrowing, but the treatment is extremely effective if done properly the first time, and the mites themselves are usually dead, but often it is advised to repeat treatment in one week.
Antihistamines help to quell the intense itching, but do watch for secondary infection, such as Staph. Topical steriods sometimes help itching on the site of infection, but not on open skin.
Common sites of concern are hands and feet, especially the webs of the fingers, breasts, underarms trunk, arms and legs. Red raised bumpy, lines/tracts, and extremely itch, especially when the patient is warm.
If you've got it, you know it, and there's no reason to worry, until you do have it, other than to use good hand washing techniques, and avoid direct contact with the affected person.