Health officials have confirmed a case of scabies at an Atlanta charter school.
Administrators at KIPP STRIVE Academy confirmed the diagnosis to Channel 2 Action News. In a statement, the school, which serves grades five through eight, said it has contacted parents and is sharing information about the highly contagious skin condition.
Scabies is caused by an infestation of the skin by a microscopic mite. The mite burrows into the upper layer of skin, where it lives and lays eggs, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common symptoms of scabies are intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash, which are treated by a topical skin medication.
Symptoms can sometimes take four to eight weeks to develop after a person is infested, according to the CDC. Those with scabies can spread it before they know they are contagious.
The disease usually is spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies. It is not clear how the student contracted it.
Four other KIPP STRIVE families reached out to the school with suspected scabies cases, but those students were checked by medical officials who determined they were not infected, according to school administrator Dave Howland.
KIPP schools are supported by the Atlanta Public Schools system.
A representative from the Georgia Department of Public Health is scheduled to answer parents’ questions about scabies at the school Monday, according to Channel 2.
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