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Angela 07:24 PM 01-24-2010
I came across this site when searching for PA's guidelines and thought this would be an excellent place to post my question/concern. My two-year-old son recently attended a local YMCA Child Care Center two days a week. I work from home, so I took him two days for socialization. About two months ago he developed a rash. The doctors thought it was a contact allergy, and we went through the whole ordeal - changing soaps, rewashing all clothing, bedding, etc. multiple times with no fabric softener, different detergent, tried topical itch creams, eliminated foods, even went so far as to bug bomb our home because we thought perhaps we had a flea problem we were unaware of. Nothing helped. Five trips to the doctor.

Right before Christmas I called the director and left a voicemail stating that I would not be bringing my son until after the new year because he continued to have this terrible rash that would not go away. A few days later I dropped by to take some cookies for the staff for Christmas, when one of the workers told me that there had been two children with scabies a few weeks prior. I immediately took my child to the doctor, got treatment to do that night, and within 24 hours we began to notice improvement. I never received a call from the director letting me know about the other children with scabies even after I informed her about my son's rash. To this day, we would still possibly be wondering what this terrible rash is because it is very difficult to diagnose - it closely mimics many common skin conditions.

The facility finally sent a notice to other parents after we called and insisted. We did find out that scabies is not considered a reportable disease in PA so the facility can't get a regulatory violation for not informing parents. My question is, did this director not have some sort of obligation to public health when I told her about my son's rash and she purposely withheld this pertinent information? And what kind of person would want to intentionally let a child continue to suffer like that? My son was itching until he literally had blood running down his legs. Now, they refuse to meet with us to discuss the matter, I have withdrawn my child, but we are still dealing with this nightmare - been to two dermatologists, treated our entire family, even my two month old infant (after he developed symptoms indicating that he had contracted scabies) who had an adverse reaction to the cream and developed a more severe rash. The cream used to treat it is a pesticide - which has been linked to cancer. I don't want to have to put this cream on my children again, but we're not sure it's gone. What recourse do I possibly have? I don't really want to sue them or anything - my primary concern is making sure no other child, and no other family, has to go through what we've gone through. We've been dealing with this for nearly three months now, and it's terrible. And I don't understand why they would want someone else to go through this - but all they will say is, "We were within our guidelines." Anyone have any insight?
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