“Hey, all together. I have scabies.”
The words would most 18 year olds probably like to be rid of having to type in a fællesbesked to their class.
nevertheless, it was the message that 18-year-old Ash Roger Pedersen had to send to his classmates on the HTX three months ago, when he found out that he had got the itchy midesygdom.
And although his classmates have responded with positive feedback on Ash Roger Pedersen’s message, they nevertheless have the same reaction, as most people probably have, just hearing the word ‘scabies’:
“It has a very large placebo effect on people. If they see me scratching, so they think, too: ‘Oh no, now I have it too.’ And when I talk with my family about it, so it happens the same,” says Ash Roger Pedersen, which takes many precautions not to spread the fnatsygdommen on.
The implies, among other things, that Ash Roger Pedersen is not sitting in the family’s couches, but instead has got its own chair. He also has a latex-gloves on, when he uses the computer he shares with his older brother. He has also dropped highfives and krammere to his peers at school.
Yes, and then there are the girls:
“I have strictly limited myself in relation to how some things. I have not actively looked for a girlfriend, and for parties, I hold myself back more than I would normally do,” he says, and explains that he is thinking much about the risk of infecting other things:
“It is a matter of principle for me. I feel that I have a great responsibility not to infect others, so it is almost one of my goals, that people have the reaction that they will avoid touching me. My conscience would have it really bad if one of my friends also got scabies,” he says.
Askes concern for spreading the disease to his friends is not without basis.
Danish pharmacies reported last week that the sale of medications against the scabies in the first 11 months is doubled when compared with the same period last year.
And in the weekend got the fear of scabies management in Virum Gymnasium to ask the students to wear gloves for gymnasiets gala event in order to reduce the risk of the itchy disease.
When fnatten is the worst, it feels, according to Ash, as if the whole body burns. He also explains that it can be volatile, where on the body, it is the worst. Sometimes it’s the legs, sometimes the arms.
To have scabies implies that there are small mites that dig times in the skin and lays eggs therein. The times will be able to see on the skin as a grey / white tunnel with a black dot for the end. The dot is the mite. Most also get a itchy red spots and small blisters.
It is not exactly appetizing to talk about, but Ash in particular has a call to the many others who, as he has got scabies this winter:
“People need to talk some more about it. Right now it’s a little taboo to talk about, because it is a relatively clammy disease. It’s just too bad, for it goes beyond so many people, because you do not dare talk about it and warn others.”
