GLANGWILI: Hospital ward closed by outbreak of crusted scabies — as contacts are offered treatment

A ward at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen has been closed after an outbreak of crusted scabies, a severe form of the highly contagious skin condition.

Steffan Ward is currently shut while specialist teams manage the outbreak, Hywel Dda University Health Board said.

All patients and staff identified as contacts have been informed and offered treatment, whether or not they have any symptoms.

A spokesperson for the health board said the ward was being managed in line with established infection prevention and control procedures, with enhanced monitoring and support from specialist teams in place.

The situation would be kept under review, the spokesperson added, and the ward would reopen “when it is safe to do so”.

Crusted scabies, historically known as Norwegian scabies, is a far more serious form of the ordinary infestation caused by microscopic mites burrowing into the skin.

In a typical case, a person may be carrying a dozen or so mites. In crusted scabies, thick scaly crusts form on the skin and can contain thousands of mites and their eggs.

That is what makes it so transmissible. It spreads through direct skin-to-skin contact, and also through contaminated clothing, bedding and furniture.

It usually develops in people whose immune systems are weakened, although health officials note that is not always the case.

It can also be harder to spot early, because patients do not always show the intense itching or the classic rash of ordinary scabies.

Scabies is treatable with prescription creams or oral medication, available through a GP or pharmacist.

Because symptoms can take up to eight weeks to appear, everyone in a household should be treated at the same time, including those with no itching at all.

Clothes, bedding and towels used in the previous four days should be washed at 60C on the first day of treatment.

Cases have been rising across the UK and Europe in recent years, and hospitals and care settings are particularly exposed because close contact between patients and staff is routine.

UK guidance on managing scabies cases and outbreaks was updated in April, setting out how institutions should handle treatment, cleaning and contact tracing.

A ward closure means patients being moved and admissions delayed, adding pressure elsewhere in a hospital already running close to capacity.

Glangwili is one of four main hospitals run by Hywel Dda, which provides NHS services across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.

The Carmarthen hospital is also set to become west Wales’s only 24-hour acute stroke unit under proposals the health board consulted on earlier this year.

Anyone concerned they may have been exposed is advised to contact their GP or a pharmacist. The health board has said everyone identified as a contact has already been told directly.