Bhilai (Health Desk) . More or less visible painful or itching symptoms affect patients’ social life, their daily work and their personal relationships. It can be infectious and may spread from person to person through use of common towels, bedsheets, blankets etc. Such problems are more common in dingy hostels where inmates tend to dry their clothes inside the rooms under a ceiling fan. It is advised to keep rooms, especially clothes and beddings dry. Clothes including undergarments must be dried out in the sun. If not possible should be ironed to dry. Fungal infections and scabies, which were prevalent in the poverty struck dingy areas are now common in posh cities as well. With the growing need to stay in a hostel or go to a gym, persons are more susceptible to get infections, if they are not careful enough. These infections, if not treated properly can bounce back and become tricky to treat. Medications available across the counter and treatment by quacks only enhance the problem, explaings Dr Deep Chatterjee, a veteran Dermatologist of the Steel City.
Fungal infections and scabies have gained alarming proportions in the steel city. Using common toilets, sharing of clothes, towels and bed, wearing damp clothes can get you infected. One must carry his own set of towels to the gym, abstain from using towels hung in toilets to be on the safe side, he added. All clothes should be washed in effective detergents and dried in the sun as a precaution. Putting beds and beddings in the sun once in a while is also advisable, he adds. Three types of pests that abound in all community living are fungus, mites and lice. This may include hostels of schools, colleges and sports, gyms, jail cells and other places where people tend to share towels, beds or come in direct contact with infected persons and use the same sitting or relaxing facilities.
Tinea : Tinea, also called ringworm, due to its appearance, is a common fungal infection. It is characterised by itching and stinging, ring like red scaly rash, cracking, splitting and peeling on toes, blisters, yellow or white discoloration of the finger nails, spots with no hair on scalp.
The cause of tinea are dermatophytes that grow on the dead keratin cells. These cells multiply in warm, damp environments on the body and can be transmitted by touch.
Variations include Tinea capitis -scalp, pedis- foot, manuum – hands, unguium – nails, barbae-beard area, cruris – crotch, corporis – body.
Prevention : avoid public baths, avoid moisture or high humidity on the skin, keep clothes and accesoriesdry, clean and aired. Launder clothing with hot water and aggressive detergents, and dry it thoroughly. Change underwear daily. Shoes and socks should be dry. Do not share clothes, brushes, combs, socks, underwear. Keep combs, razors etc in antiseptic liquid when not in use.
Scabies : Is a contagious skin infection caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. The itch is made worse by warmth, and is worse at night. The mite burrows under the skin. The burrow tracks, often linear, closely placed and equally developed mosquito-like “bites” is almost diagnostic of the disease.
The superficial burrows of scabies usually occur in the area of the hands, feet, wrists, elbows, back, buttocks, and external genitals. Infection generally does not occur in the skin of the face or scalp. The burrows are created by excavation of the adult mite in the epidermis. The movement of mites within and on the skin produces an intense itch. Scabies is usually transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact. It can also be spread through contact with other objects, such as clothing, bedding, furniture, or surfaces with which a person infected with scabies might have come in contact. Simultaneous treatment of all close contacts is recommended, even if they show no symptoms. Treatment must often involve the entire household or community to prevent reinfection.
Louse : The head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) is an obligate ectoparasite of humans. Head lice are wingless insects spending their entire life on the human scalp and feeding exclusively on human blood. Unlike body lice, head lice are not the vectors of any known diseases.
Body lice spread through direct contact with an infected person, clothing, beds or towels. Body lice can transmit disease. Epidemics of typhus and louse-borne relapsing fever have been caused by body lice.