The highly-contagious skin infection feels as bad as it looks, as mites burrow in the outer layer of human skin.

"I've seen it (as) a case here, a case there, but never an outbreak," said Sunny Humphrey, a registered nurse at Johnstown-Monroe Schools.

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According to Humphrey, a couple students first reported having bumps on their skin.  She said they initially looked like flea bites.

"We didn't know for sure what they were, but the next day one came back as scabies," Humphrey said.

The outbreak started in an Oregon Elementary School classroom, Townsend reported.  Licking County public health officials reported 12 cases of scabies, involving 11 students and a teacher.

Students with the infection were dismissed early.

"We put it on our Web site," said Damian Bawn, Johnstown-Monroe's superintendent.  "Immediately that morning we discovered it, (we) sent a note home to all parents."

Immediate action is critical since scabies is highly contagious and spreads quickly among children, Townsend reported.

"In older children and adults, you tend to have scabies in the web between your fingers and also in the underarms," said Dr. Dennis Cunningham at Nationwide Children's Hospital.  "Sometimes, you see a little red line going down and that's where the scabies has been burrowing."

The affected children at Oregon were all treated and have since returned to class, Townsend reported.

Scabies is spread by direct contact.  The mites can survive up to 72 hours on inanimate surfaces.

Cunningham said that bedding, clothes and linens should be washed in hot water and dried with high heat to kill mites.

Family members of a child with scabies should also be treated regardless of symptoms, he said.

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