Scabies epidemic: price and prejudice.

Scabies epidemics are not unusual, and the recommended way of stopping them is by simultaneous treatment of everybody in the facility; this has been known since the last century, when Norwegian scabies was a problem in Norway. When this is not done, scabies epidemics can smolder for months. Scabies should not spread with good infection control measures, but we learned that a good infection control service is not enough. Efforts have to be done to educate everybody in the hospital, including laundry workers, and to improve work conditions.