After an epidemic in Franche-Comté last August and in the Ardennes crèches in October, dermatologists no longer have any doubts: scabies is back. And the difficult access to drugs worries them. “Every day, in Marseille, but also in Bordeaux or Paris, we encounter more and more cases in our hospital consultations”, affirms Professor Marie-Aleth Richard, dermatologist at the Timone hospital in Marseille, interviewed by Le Figaro. This disease is caused by a mite, the mite, which penetrates the skin where it drills an epidermal gallery, the scabious “furrow”, indicates the world health organization. It is transmitted by direct skin contact. Intense pruritus, with nocturnal recrudescence, precedes the onset.
The patient’s entire intimate environment must be treated in such a way as to prevent infestation or reinfestation. Apply a product all over the body and wash clothes and bedding or air them outside for 72 hours. But due to a persistent shortage of Ascabiol lotion, the reference treatment, due to a shortage of supply of one of its active ingredients, access to treatment is not not easy. The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) believes that therapeutic alternatives are present on the market: Stromectol tablets and Spregal spray.
But dermatologists do not share this opinion, explains Le Figaro : “They point out the contraindications of these products in the youngest or in asthmatics for the spray.” In this case, another treatment can be delivered, such as Permetrine, but only in the hospital. Among other things, apart from Stromectol tablets, no medicine is reimbursed by Social Security. “However, according to the calculations of the Health Watch Institute, when a case of scabies occurs in a family, it costs 75 euros to treat the person and protect the others”, adds Le Figaro.
