Notes on the prevention and treatment of scabies, 1942 / by command of the Army Council.

Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the prevention and treatment of scabies, 1942 / by command of the Army Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Under static conditions.—The following facilities may be made available for men; they should be made available for women under all conditions of service :— (1) A ward in which the cases can be isolated. (2) A bathroom, adjacent to the ward, with an adequate supply of hot and cold water. Slipper baths are preferable to showers. (3) A warm treatment-room, temperature 75° F. (24° C.) adjacent to the bathroom. (4) An adequate supply of soft soap and specific remedies. (5) Hospital clothing. (6) A hot air disinfestor or steam disinfector. (7) Personnel: the medical officer should have experience in the diagnosis and treatment of scabies and should be assisted by intelligent, trained orderlies. As soon as possible after admission the patient should re- move his clothing, which should be sent with his blankets for disinfestation by exposure either to steam or to air heated to 149° F. (65° C.). The patient should proceed to the bath- room, and should lie in the bath in water at 105° F. (41° C.) for ten minutes. He should then rub himself thoroughly all over with soft soap, using in all about two ounces, until a creamy lather results. Re-entering the bath he should rub the skin gently with a flannel or nail brush in order to open up the burrows, paying particular attention to the sites of election stated above. About five to ten minutes should be allowed for this procedure. Then, after washing off all the soap, he should leave the bath, dry himself thoroughly and pass on to the warm treatment-room, where he wiil be treated with benzyl benzoate or sulphur. Suitable arrangements should be made for the disinfestation of towels and flannels. t BENZYL BENZOATE.—If benzyl benzoate is used it may be employed dissolved in spirit or emulsified in water. In either case the optimum concentration of benzyl benzoate is 20-25 per cent. The lotion or emulsion should be applied by an orderly with a suitable brush and painted on from neck to trunk or limbs is left untreated. Particular care should be taken to treat the webs between fingers and toes, the elbows, — axille, penis, scrotum and buttocks. When the first coat has dried, a second is applied. The patient puts on a cotton shirt and hospital blues and goes to the ward ; he is instructed not to wash for 24 hours. He should then receive a second bath, followed by another application of the benzyl benzoate, and, 8 or 12 hours later, a final cleansing bath before dis- charge. If, after the last bath, the skin is reddened or irrit- . able, an application of calamine lotion is beneficial.