Six children attending different schools were found to have scabies since the beginning of the year, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

It is important to note that the transmission did not occur in school, so there is no need for any disinfection of the school

All children were infected from the community, which means they did not get the skin condition from their schools, the spokesman stressed.

“It is important to note that the transmission did not occur in school, so there is no need for any disinfection of the school, except for the usual cleaning procedures. Also children who are not affected can attend school as usual,” the spokesman said.

Since January, there were about 42 cases scattered around the community, apart from the six schoolchildren.

The figures are consistent with previous years.

The first case detected in a school was at St Joseph Blata l-Bajda in March. The following month two cases were reported at the Żabbar kindergarten and at the Gżira primary school.

This month three cases were detected. The first was at the Birkirkara primary school and the others were at Fgura primary schools A and B.

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

These mites burrow into the skin, then breed and lay their eggs, causing a rash and intense itchiness.

Sufferers of scabies rarely know they have the condition until a number of weeks after initial infection.

The mite is transmitted from one person to the other through close contact and anyone can get infected.

For this reason only those who came into contact with an infected person are given preventive treatment in the form of a cream which is applied to the whole body from the neck down.

The spokesman said that the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit, within the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate, conducted a risk assessment to identify who came into contact with an infected person.

These people were then given the cream to apply.

In schools, the risk assessment was also carried out. The cream was given to parents, students or teachers who came into contact with the infected child.

A talk was held for the parents and teachers to explain to them what was going on, the spokesman added.