Return to school after scabies treatment
Scabies will not go away on its on. It must be treated with medicines that will kill the scabies mites. If your child has scabies or has been exposed to scabies, follow your health professional's instructions carefully for applying the medication.
If treatment with permethrin or lindane has successfully killed the mites, your child can return to day care or school after you have completed the last step of treatment, which is washing the medication off your child's skin. Treatment with sulfur ointment takes a series of days of applying the cream and washing it off to kill all the mites.
- Permethrin is washed off 8 to 14 hours after it is applied.
- Crotamiton is washed off 48 hours after the last application.
- Sulfur is washed off 24 hours after the last application.
- Lindane is washed off after 8 hours.
Symptoms of itching and skin tenderness often remain for several weeks after successful treatment. This does not mean your child still has scabies. However, if you are unsure whether you have killed all the mites, talk to your doctor before allowing your child to go back into a group setting.
In addition to using medication to kill scabies mites, be sure to launder all clothes and bedding that your child has used during the past 4 days. Wash and dry them at high temperatures or dry-clean them; any items that can't be laundered should be kept in an airtight plastic bag for at least 7 days.
| Author: | Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH | Last Updated: May 24, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Donald Sproule, MD, CM, CCFP, FCFP - Family Medicine | |
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