idun Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Someone I know in France is furious. Had friends to stay and the girl was scratching a bit. Weeks later they called these 'guests', I suppose that they had expected them to get in touch and maybe even say 'thankyou' or something. However, they were told sheeplishly that they had been too embarrassed to get in touch as she had had la gale.As they said, they could have had others friends staying and would just changed the sheets, but could others have caught this.I haven't heard of anyone having this in years to be honest. Friends arrived chez nous in France and they had been in an hotel in Chamonix and had bed bugs.When we have friends and I suppose family staying, I never think of things like this..........[+o(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 We once stayed in an hotel in Angouleme and I got bitten during the night, just my legs - just me, OH never gets bitten!That was back in 2001, since then I looked bedbugs up and there seemed to be a worldwide epidemic.I've never heard them called la gale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 No Pat, sorry I wasn't clear, la gale is scabies, and I haven't heard of anyone having them in years and years. And that was the reason that my friend was very annoyed that they were not told ASAP, instead of them just saying nothing.edit, everytime I think about any of this stuff it has me shuddering in disgust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
confused of chalus Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 This is really weird, Idun, as it is the third reference to someone in France having caught scabies I have heard in a week. Its the first time in 30 years, since my son was at school, that I have even heard of anyone having them. Makes you itch to think about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 La gale is also mange in cats and dogs.Assuming that it is the same critters that infect both humans and animals, I could well believe that it is more common than some believe.As for publicising an infection, well it probably falls in the same category as nits, fleas (human), lice and a host of other parasites, that you would prefer not to share in public - either as passing them on or telling people that you have them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Public, this isn't really, it was telling friends, surely it is a terrible thing to not tell them. Still, when my brother turned up at our french house with his kids, covered with head lice, I had to get stuff from the pharmacie and it cost a fortune and he didn't even say thanks, never mind dipping his hand in his pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I've heard of it quite a lot here in the Charente. We used to get letters from the college saying that there was an epidemic in the internat so we could keep our externe kids home if we wanted to. My step daughter caught it last year in the internat at lycee. The treatment they dole out for it isn't very good, in my opinion. It takes ages to get rid of it with the cream the doctor gives out. I gave my stepdaughter an oral dose of injectible ivermectin (for cattle) and it was gone almost immediately. It's a well known off label treatment for scabies and head lice. She wasn't impressed with the taste of it but was impressed with the results and glad not to have to smother herself head to toe in cream like her peers had to. Nobody else in the family caught it from her but then she was only home weekends and has her own bedclothes and towels always go straight in the wash after use, a habit taken up after primary school head lice epidemics and never dropped, thankfully. Some people seem to be susceptible to these things. My sons have never caught head lice but my stepdaughter caught them all the time. Your friends should have been safe if they washed the girl's bedclothes when she left and as long as nobody else used the same towel as her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 The infection in animals other than humans is caused by a different but related mite species, and is called sarcoptic mange.For people type animals it's Sarcoptes scabiei. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 21, 2015 Author Share Posted March 21, 2015 I had no idea that this was in any way 'current'. I really thought that scabies was something that used to happen a long time ago, and I think my friend thought the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I understand one of the best ways of spreading these things is when travelling from country to country people put their cases on beds to unpack them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindal1000 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I'm afraid the best way to spread scabies is a little more intimate. That's why it spreads so quickly amongst teenagers."Scabies is spread by prolonged skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies. Scabies sometimes also can be spread by contact with items such as clothing, bedding, or towels that have been used by a person with scabies, but such spread is very uncommon unless the infested person has crusted scabies."Actually if you look on the NHS website it's quite interesting.. Very common in the UK. Most common route of transmission is holding hands and you have to have 15-20 minutes of contact to pass it on. Symptoms only show 2-6 weeks after infection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 There was an article about it in the Depeche on Friday - evidently there's a mini-epidemic and the Gers is the worst affected [:'(]I wonder if you can pass it on just by shaking hands? A lot of that goes on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ventodue Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 [quote user="idun"] edit, everytime I think about any of this stuff it has me shuddering in disgust.[/quote]Ah, but we are all just a dinner plate for something else ...[:)] [:-))]Great thread, this. I now know more about scabies than any reasonable person should ... [:D]P.s You can let your friends know they don't need to be too worried - apparently the mites don't survive for very long outside a human host, so there was little chance of any one else being infected. But I do agree that not being told was pretty lame, to say the least ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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