SCABIES SYMPTOMS SPREAD\More hospital workers show signs of ailment.Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer Valencia - A day after a nurse was diagnosed with scabies scabies (skā`bēz), highly contagious parasitic skin disease caused by the itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei). The disease is also known as itch. , more workers at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital are complaining symptoms of the skin disease, officials said Thursday. "A handful of employees are demonstrating a symptom like a redness," hospital spokeswoman Janice Newbold said. "There's no confirmation that this will lead to scabies." The employees all work in the 20- to 30-bed definitive observation unit where a nurse was diagnosed with scabies. The unit houses critical care patients and those who need less intensive care, Newbold said. Newhall Memorial is one of seven hospitals and convalescent con·va·les·cent adj. Relating to convalescence. n. A person who is recovering from an illness, an injury, or a surgical operation. convalescent 1. pertaining to or characterized by convalescence. 2. homes in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County suffering from a scabies outbreak, Los Angeles County Health Services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract Department officials said. Last year, three health facilities experienced scabies outbreaks. "This is a real bad scabies year in the county," said Dr. Carol Peterson, a medical epidemiologist for the county's acute communicable disease communicable disease n. A disease that is transmitted through direct contact with an infected individual or indirectly through a vector. Also called contagious disease. control unit, which investigates outbreaks and monitors control measures. "It's not surprising to find an outbreak in a health-care setting." Last month, patients and workers at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills were treated for scabies, said hospital spokeswoman Lorie Akins. The hospital contacted the health department and received guidelines to treat the disease. No new outbreaks have occurred, Akins said. "As far as we're concerned, everybody was treated," she said. At Newhall Memorial, no patients have complained of symptoms of scabies, caused by a parasitic mite - the itch mite itch mite n. A parasitic mite that burrows into the skin and causes scabies. - that burrows beneath the skin of humans, cattle and sheep to deposit eggs. The infestation infestation /in·fes·ta·tion/ (-fes-ta´shun) parasitic attack or subsistence on the skin and/or its appendages, as by insects, mites, or ticks; sometimes used to denote parasitic invasion of the organs and tissues, as by helminths. causes severe itching as well as a red rash and can be transmitted by skin-to-skin contact. "These things are annoying, not life threatening," Peterson said. A topical skin cream is being administered to all workers and patients in the observation unit, including those who visited the area during the past six weeks and might have been exposed. The cream is applied to the body and left for eight hours. Hospital administrators were notified Wednesday by the infected nurse, who was diagnosed by a private dermatologist. |
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