A student at a Birkirkara primary school was found to have scabies but there was “no cause for alarm”, a spokeswoman for the health authorities has said.

The case was detected on Friday and, the following day, parents of students in the class of the infected child were given a talk and told to apply a preventive cream on their children.

Scabies is a contagious skin condition that is caused by tiny mites officially called Sarcoptes scabiei.

These mites, which are transmitted from one person to the other through close contact, burrow into the skin then breed and lay their eggs there, causing a rash and intense itchiness.