Bodo woman Victoria Andal (22) and her boyfriend both developed pimples and skin rashes that “never” disappeared and they both contacted a doctor.
Girlfriend got a doctor’s appointment first.
First the doctor looked at her rash, then some pictures of Victoria Andal’s rash.
The message to the doctor was clear and distinct:
– You both have scabies.
Scabies “bursts” increase
Insects under the skin
According to Pocket Doctor Scabies is an infectious skin disease caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei.
The female mite burrows into the top layer of skin and causes both itching and a rash.
According to The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia The mite is spread by close and preferably repeated contact. In a family, everyone gets infected after a while.
According to the website, the infection can also be easily transmitted through sexual contact.
Google Doctor
Andal tells Dagbladet that she decided to study about the skin disease she got and still hasn’t gotten over it.
– I was primarily relieved when I received the diagnosis. Then I knew why I scratched like that. I started googling and found very few people talking about scabies. I thought it was very strange, she says.
She says she’s glad it was “just” scabies.
– I don’t have cancer or anything dangerous, but a skin disease that can be cured with cream. I was lucky, he says, wondering why it should be so restricted.
It was NRK Nordland He was the first to point this out.
Points: This is what Victoria’s feet looked like before she was diagnosed. Photo: Private
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Associated with poor health and poverty
According to Institute of Public Health (FHI) Guidance for Health Workers Scabies was previously associated with poor hygiene and poverty, but is no longer the case in Europe.
Andal believes that scabies is still a big obstacle.
— He says that scabies is more forbidden than chlamydia, and continues:
– At the start of the pandemic, some people claimed they were infected with Covid-19. Then it got banned, and before it became more commonplace, Facebook feeds were filled with victims of the virus. People also talk openly about monkey disease. But scabies should somehow be taboo, he says.
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Eruption increase
Dagbladet wrote about one in December last year An increase in scabies During the pandemic. The reason, according to dermatologist Reza Sohrabi, is that we spend too much time indoors with our loved ones.
The mite spreads through close and frequent contact, which increases the risk of infecting multiple people in the same household or environment.
– Scabies can spread in all environments like parties, nurseries, workplaces, schools and nursing homes. “I don’t know how I got scabies, but at least I’ve lost my job,” says Victoria Andal, an environmental service worker in Bodo.
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– Not disgusting
In mid-August, Andal wrote in the reader log “Skabb pårundgang”. Nordland Newspaper.
She wanted to make it easier for people to talk about skin disease:
«It’s not something that many people choose to be obvious about, but if you want to break the barrier, you have to start somewhere. Most people may imagine that scabies is disgusting and that the affected person has poor hygiene, which is not true. Now we are in an epidemic where many people are infected by contact, this is how scabies works, the bug needs to be treated and doesn’t go away on its own like a virus.“, she wrote.
Blisters and Bumps: The symptoms of scabies are itching, often worse at night and with sweating, often first on the hands and then on large areas of the body. Photo: Shutterstock
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Tell her to stay away
The 22-year-old tells Dagbladet that she received many comments after choosing to be open about scabies.
– I shower at least once every day and have normal hygiene, but I’ve gotten comments about staying away, she says.
She thinks she knows why people tell her to keep her distance.
– I think people are uncertain and afraid when it comes to scabies. I understand when some people talk about this.
Scabies: mainstay treatment
Everyone should be treated
If you’re diagnosed with a skin condition, health officials recommend informing everyone you’ve had close skin contact with in the past month.
It suggests that you and your close contacts should be treated with the cream or liniment at the same time Helsenorge.No.
– We spent several hundreds of kroner on nix cream that helps against scabies. Andal says that the cost increases as the treatment has to be done twice.
The first treatment should be carried out in two sessions seven days apart. Lubricate the skin all over the body, from head to toe, and work for 24 hours.
You are contagious and can meet others again.
Among other things, the Bodo woman has to change her bed every day. Wash clothes daily. Her sofa is covered in blue plastic to kill insects that get caught in the fabric.
– After five days without human contact, the insect literally dies, she says.
Covered in plastic: This is how to get rid of bugs in the fabric of a Victorian sofa. Photo: Private
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Bombarded by the news
After Victoria Andal fell ill, she received many messages.
– I have received many messages from people who have scabies and do not dare to talk about it.
She says she has the following advice for people with skin conditions:
– I amDon’t be shy. Get help and get it out.
She struggles to stay completely free of treatment for scabies. In this way, she hopes, the disease will become less of an obstacle.
– Maybe it’s not too embarrassing to tell your close contacts that you have scabies and they have to buy expensive creams and wash a lot at home to get rid of it, she says.
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