this letter went out to all of the organizers at the events listed below: An open letter to dance community organizers: It has recently come to the attention of the dance community on the west coast that there has been an outbreak of scabies, a skin mite that can be spread through prolonged skin-to-skin-contact of 5-10 minutes (ie, dancing). We have confirmed that some attendees of your event, or dancers who frequent your venue have had scabies at the time of the event and could have transmitted it to other attendees. Currently, there have been reported cases of scabies in the following places: Portland, San Luis Obispo, SF Bay Area, Sacramento, and Boston. There have been confirmed cases at these national events: Nov 8: Rose City Blues, Portland OR Nov 15: Blues Bliss, Orlando FL Dec 13: Gender Bender Recess, SF CA Dec 26: Lindy Focus, Asheville NC Dec 30: Champagne and Roses, Portland OR Jan 10: Denver Fusion Exchange, Denver CO What can you do? 1) In order to gather data on the prevalence and transmissibility of the scabies mite amongst dancers, there is a group putting together a questionnaire tracking the infection. In order for this to be a useful resource, we are trying to gather as much data as possible about the spread and prevalence of the infection, to create an interactive map of the infection spread. That means we would like you to forward this survey to all of your attendees and share with as many dancers as possible. You are welcome to reshare this email with attendees of your event. 2) If you know the total number of cases at your event, please update this google doc. If youd like to be the contact person for your scene, please get in touch with the admins of the Facebook group, myself, Jennifer Vo, or Victor Lane. 3) Please join the Facebook group, The Dancing Bug: Scabies in the Dance community in 2014 which is dedicated to scabies control coordination. We would also appreciate if you could post on the facebook group what steps or actions your venue/event is taking to handle the scabies outbreak. If you have more time or resources to get involved, please contact one of the administrators of the facebook group about what you can do to help. We will probably need help compiling our data and deciding what actions we as a community want to take next, and possibly putting up a Dancing Bug website. 4) Check out the links at the bottom to educate yourself about scabies and be on the lookout for infections in your community. Finally, heres some further information on the scabies mites: Its a type of mite that burrows into your skin, and is very contagious among people with whom youve had close contact with (i.e. dancing and cuddling). It can take 2-6 weeks for symptoms to show up after infection, so theres a high probability that if this problem isnt addressed now, it could easily crop up again in a few months. Symptoms: small, red bumps on the skin, spread over the entire body, accompanied by an intense itch that is worse at night. The itch gets more intense, and the bumps get more numerous over time, and do not go away on their own without treatment, and have been mistaken for eczema. Affected areas: The entire body, except for scalp and genitals (places with hair); especially apparent in the webbing of fingers/toes, wrists, ankles, waistline, armpits, elbows... places with folds and buildup of dead skin. What to do: If you have any of these symptoms please see a doctor ASAP to get it fixed. There is a medication that should kill the scabies. The treatment kills them after a single treatment, a second treatment is necessary to kill off any hatched eggs, but it does not guard against re-infection. If you dont have access to a doctor, there are over-the-counter medications that will also work. Take a look at the links at the bottom of the page for more information and resources. Having Scabies doesnt infer anything about your general hygiene or other practices. If youve been exposed, you can be infected, simple as that. Being silent will only perpetuate the problem. If we do not come together as a community to defeat this problem, it will continue to persist. Repost, share, and spread the word! Where to go: if you have insurance, go ahead and see your normal doctor. There should be a free clinic in your area, check it out on Google. If any of the above information is a repeat from what youve already seen on facebook, or youve been contacted more than once, we apologize. Thanks for your help in eradicating this bug from our communities! - Bryne Ulmschneider Resources: cdc.gov/parasites/scabies/ General information from the CDC lifewithoutscabies/ note: the above is a Non-medical professional giving advice about over the counter scabies treatment hpa.org.uk/webc/hpawebfile/hpaweb_c/1194947308867 Facebook Group: https://facebook/groups/1403957833189064/permalink/1404014139850100/ more links and resources here!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 04:39:52 +0000
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