Sarcoptosis, a skin disease similar to scabies, has spread rapidly among the population of the Haitian commune of Kenscoff, a rural and impoverished area located south of Port-au-Prince.
In the town of Koto, in the commune of Kenscoff, everyone scratches their back, stomach, head, legs, especially at night, when the itching of this curable disease tends to increase, which led to the Ministry of Health to issue an alert to the population last Thursday.
The affected people are counted in dozens along the 12 kilometers of the mountain road that connects the capital with Kenscoff, and large white spots, pimples, skin lesions and wounds are seen on their bodies.
"I have already taken it. All the townspeople have been infected. Both adults and children are affected. I had it all over my body"A man named Mikerline, who was infected with the disease for several days, told Efe.
Entire families have been infected in recent weeks by the parasite that causes sarcoptosis, including many children, but very few have gone to the doctor, due to lack of means, and some have even resorted to home remedies.
"We go to the hospital, but we do not find good results. We go there to receive some medication, but we don’t find any results"Therese Joseph lamented.
School teacher and journalist Dorvil Francillon told Efe that the disease "it’s an epidemic" because it has spread to various locations.
"It initially arose in the town of Koto, not far from the Gray River. He then moved to Robin’s area. Scrapie is also wreaking havoc in Dumisseau’s zone"he claimed.
The Ministry of Health encouraged the population to apply preventive measures such as avoiding direct contact with an infected person, boiling bedding, disinfecting sheets, pillows and towels, ventilating spaces, bathing with clean water and avoiding scratching the skin despite from the intense itching.
The same day the statement was published, the health authorities announced that they had deployed a multidisciplinary team to contain the sarcoptosis outbreak in the Kenscoff area.
"This deployment is part of the research and response activities carried out by the Ministry of Health against community sarcoptosis in rural areas of the department of Oeste"reads the statement on its Facebook page.