{"id":601275,"date":"2025-11-29T12:36:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/601275\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:36:22","slug":"victorian-disease-breaks-out-at-school-with-headteacher-forced-to-urgently-shut-down-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/601275\/","title":{"rendered":"Victorian disease breaks out at school with headteacher forced to urgently shut down site"},"content":{"rendered":"

A school has been urgently shut down after the outbreak of the highly contagious disease Scabies, with other schools in the area also reporting cases. <\/p>\n

The headteacher of South Devon College was forced to take the drastic measures after at least seven children fell ill. <\/p>\n

Scabies, a condition often considered consigned to history in the developed world, manifests through inflamed, crusty red skin. <\/p>\n

It is caused by microscopic mites that burrow beneath the skin and is spread through close skin contact.<\/p>\n

Parents of children at South Devon College received the worrying email informing them that the institution would be shut down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been notified of seven confirmed cases of scabies amongst our student community. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese cases have been diagnosed by a health professional,\u201d the email informed. <\/p>\n

The outbreak has affected at least five schools across Devon, prompting concern from officials within the county, according to Metro. <\/p>\n

\"Scabies<\/p>\n

Scabies manifests as inflamed, crusty red skin<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Medics warn that the disease frequently goes undetected initially, enabling unknowing carriers to transmit it to others. <\/p>\n

Some individuals remain asymptomatic whilst contagious, compounding transmission risks.<\/p>\n

London consultant dermatologist Dr Firas Al-Niaimi warned: “Scabies is very contagious and spreads very quickly, so it needs to be caught early to limit infections.”<\/p>\n

He explained patients might avoid seeking GP treatment, mistakenly believing they have eczema instead. <\/p>\n

\"Scabies<\/p>\n

The condition is casued by microscopic mites that burrow beneath the skin <\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Torbay Council has addressed concerns about the outbreak, confirming awareness of infections in their area but stressed individual cases were not an immediate cause for concern. <\/p>\n

The council stated: “We are aware of a small number of scabies cases in the area, but scabies is not a condition that needs to be reported to health authorities.”<\/p>\n

Despite reports suggesting three Torbay-area schools had recorded infections, the local authority refuted claims of any closures linked to the outbreak. <\/p>\n

They added: “No schools in Torbay have closed because of this.<\/p>\n

However, they added: “Individual schools are communicating directly with parents and carers, and we ask families to speak to their child’s school with any concerns.”<\/p>\n

Although it is considered a mild condition, scabies often does not usually clear of its own accord and requires treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A school has been urgently shut down after the outbreak of the highly contagious disease Scabies, with other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[113921,105,12,28908,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-601275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-across-the-uk","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-south-west","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115633021514629252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}