Four patients are still suffering from scabies at Mount Carmel Hospital after the infectious disease spread through the mental hospital.

The outbreak, which started on Tuesday, left 15 patients with an itchy rash caused by a mite which burrows under the skin.

A Community Care spokes­man said four patients were still contagious until yesterday, while another two were being closely monitored in case they too had contracted the disease.

Precautions were taken to control the outbreak, which is believed to have started after a patient contracted the infection while out on leave from the hospital for community care.

Scabies is a skin infection caused by mites that breaks out among humans and other animals and is spread by direct contact with infected people.

In October, 71 people were diagnosed with scabies, with the first cases breaking out at a home for the elderly in Sa Maison.

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