The Haitian Ministry of Public Health (MSPP) has warned the population of a “highly contagious” form of skin infection similar to scabies and that has been detected in several areas of the country, as reported by the health authority in a statement released Thursday.
“The Ministry takes this opportunity to advise anyone who presents the following signs and symptoms to go to the nearest health institution: itching and itchy skin lesions, especially at night”, has detailed the public body, which has not given specific numbers of infected.
Likewise, the country’s health authorities have recommended a series of measures to citizens to avoid becoming infected and thus spreading the new disease.
“The MSPP encourages you to apply the following preventive measures: avoid direct contact with an infected person; boil bedding; disinfect clothing, sheets, pillows, and towels; ventilate the spaces and bathe with clean water”, they have advised.
For infected people, in addition, the Ministry of Public Health has requested that they avoid scratching their skin despite the desire to do so, in addition to being careful not to spread the disease and infect other people.
The lack of adequate infrastructure, overcrowding in popular neighborhoods and little access to water are a breeding ground for the spread of these diseases in the country that in 2010 faced an outbreak of cholera with an official death toll of 10,000, although sociopolitical organizations and human rights ensure that the real figure may be three times higher.
The NGO Doctors of the World warned in February that 4.4 million people, about 40 percent of Haiti’s population, need humanitarian aid in the country, where almost half a million people live without running water.
The organization pointed out that the situation has worsened as a result of the earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale that took place in August 2021 and left more than 2,000 dead, 60,000 buildings collapsed and more than 75,000 buildings damaged.