UPDATED FRIDAY DEC. 9 — Piedmont Healthcare officials said Friday 900 treatments have been distributed to hundreds of persons inside and outside Piedmont Fayette Hospital to combat an outbreak of the itchy skin rash called scabies.
Some confusion arose about the number of actual persons treated after Piedmont held an Atlanta news conference Dec. 8 to answer media inquiries following the story Wednesday in The Citizen.
“To clarify, we distributed 900 treatments. This means [an employee] in X-Ray got four tubes of scabicide cream for himself, wife and two kids. So total employees was not actually 900. This treatment was offered to anyone that may have been in the same environment as our index patient, (even though they didn’t have physical contact) as well as to anyone that requested it,” said Piedmont Healthcare Media Relations representative Jim Taylor in an email Friday afternoon.
Piedmont Fayette Hospital recently sent more than a dozen employees home and proactively treated at least 55 other hospital workers after a hospital patient was identified as having scabies.
The updated information indicates that the hospital as a precaution also issued treatment creme for relatives and others who may have come into close contact with hospital workers outside the hospital itself.
The microscopic mite that cause the scabies rash is easily treatable, but Piedmont decided to contact the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Ga. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) even though scabies does not rise to the level of being a reportable condition in the Georgia healthcare system.
Taylor last week said there was a recent incident of scabies at Piedmont Fayette that had been traced back to a “community member” who had visited the hospital. The Citizen has learned that the initial patient with scabies was an end-stage cancer patient who later died.
Taylor said more than a dozen employees had been sent home after subsequently experiencing a rash. Some of those, said Taylor, had a rash that was not due to the mite that causes scabies. The idea was to be proactive in responding to the occurrence, Taylor added.
The official figure of 55 employees treated, though not exposed, was thought to be the correct number until another Piedmont Healthcare employee at a Dec. 8 Atlanta press conference used the number of 900 treatments. That was reported by Atlanta media Dec. 8.
Taylor on Dec. 9 said he was a little surprised by the number treated, adding that he had not been aware of the discrepancy until the afternoon press conference on Dec. 8. The number was expanded to 900 earlier this week, Taylor said.
Taylor said Piedmont Fayette Hospital employs 1,430 staff, plus 500 doctors, along with 270 volunteers.
Human scabies is caused by an infestation of the skin by the human itch mite, according to the CDC. The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs. The most common symptoms of scabies are intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash. The scabies mite is found worldwide and usually is spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies, CDC said.
Though contagious, scabies is readily treatable with a cream applied to the skin, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“We began proactive treatment for all the staff that might have come in contact (with the individual from the community) and we also treated the work environment,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the patients that had come in contact with the employees were notified to be aware and to make their families aware that an incident of scabies had taken place.
Taylor also noted that the hospital’s proactive response extended to a much larger number of hospital employees.
“To be on the safe side we also proactively treated another 55 employees that could have had contact with the patient who had scabies,” Taylor said. And beyond that, all hospital employees were notified that scabies had been detected. Taylor said the decision was made to err on the side of caution.
Piedmont also contacted CDC and the Ga. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) on the issue. DPH Dist. 4 spokesperson Hayla Hall confirmed that scabies is not one of the reportable health conditions within the Georgia SendSS (State Electronic Notifiable Disease Surveillance System) protocol.
Hall added that Piedmont Fayette was doing more than necessary to address the issue.
“We were looking out for our patients and employees. That’s what this is all about,” Taylor said.
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EARLIER STORY FOR PRINT EDITION Dec. 7
To stop an attack of the itchies, Piedmont Fayette Hospital recently decided to send more than a dozen employees home and proactively treat more than 50 others after a recent hospital patient was identified as having scabies.
The microscopic mite that cause the scabies rash is easily treatable, but Piedmont decided to contact the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Ga. Dept. of Public Health (DPH), even though scabies does not rise to the level of being a reportable condition in the Georgia healthcare system.
Piedmont Healthcare Media Relations representative Jim Taylor last week said there was a recent incident of scabies at Piedmont Fayette that had been traced back to a “community member” who had visited the hospital. Taylor said more than a dozen employees had been sent home after subsequently experiencing a rash.
Some of those, said Taylor, had a rash that was not due to the mite that causes scabies. The idea was to be proactive in responding to the occurrence, Taylor added.
Human scabies is caused by an infestation of the skin by the human itch mite, according to the CDC. The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs.
The most common symptoms of scabies are intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash. The scabies mite is found worldwide and usually is spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies, CDC said.
Though contagious, scabies is readily treatable with a cream applied to the skin, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“We began proactive treatment for all the staff that might have come in contact (with the individual from the community) and we also treated the work environment,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the patients that had come in contact with the employees were notified to be aware and to make their families aware that an incident of scabies had taken place.
Taylor also noted that the hospital’s proactive response extended to a much larger number of hospital employees.
“To be on the safe side we also proactively treated another 55 employees that could have had contact with the patient who had scabies,” Taylor said. And beyond that, all hospital employees were notified that scabies had been detected. Taylor said the decision was made to err on the side of caution.
Piedmont also contacted CDC and the Ga. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) on the issue. DPH Dist. 4 spokesperson Hayla Hall confirmed that scabies is not one of the reportable health conditions within the Georgia SendSS (State Electronic Notifiable Disease Surveillance System) protocol.
Hall added that Piedmont Fayette was doing more than necessary to address the issue.
“We were looking out for our patients and employees. That’s what this is all about,” Taylor said.
