[David MK Cleaning]

Have been asked to carpet clean 2 huge call centres, as they have had an major outbreak of scabies.
Has anyone had to deal with this before? Or any chems recommend for it? special ppe for myself?

Apparently they just die from a normal carpet cleaning chems like double clean. Anyone know if this is true?

[benny d]

RUN! 

[nevil]

Wear gloves.

[John Kelly]

Scabies is caused by small Mites. Are they sure this is what it is. There is a problem in large facilities like this with static electricity in the Nylon carpets. If the atmosphere is dry, which it will be if air conditioned, static builds up in the carpets and is unable to dissipate naturally through water molecules in the air. What happens instead is it jumps from the carpet on to any available conductor, usually a bare ankle.  The resulting shock feels like a bite and the person then scratches their leg. If this occurs regularly then their lags can break out in quite bad rashes.

Questions to ask: Is the building air conditioned. Is it women who are affected or men as well. Are there washing and shower facilities on site (scabies mites are often passed via towels)
If it does appear to be scabies then extraction cleaning is a must, bonneting won't be sufficient. Extraction cleaning with red hot water and suitable detergent should be sufficient. Colloidal products will be a good option as pre-spray as they have minor insecticidal properties. Post treatment with a suitable insecticide is also recomended either by yourselves if qualified or suitable contractor.
If it appears to be a static problem then again cleaning followed by application of anti static solution will help.
If it is Scabies then you will need to provide a method statement of what you are going to do. You need to have caveats that there are no guarantees on complete eradication as people could be bringing the mites in with them.

[Hilton]

First off if it is actually scabies, as mentioned this seem unlikely as skin to skin contact is usually required to spread it and it is very contagious.However if it is, you dont just treat the carpets but also any soft furnishings in the same vicinity,

Also anyone who has been infected has to be treated as a matter of urgency and can not return to work until given the all clear.

It can survive in carpets for up to 3 days but does require a 'host' to survive any longer and reproduce, as mentioned very hot water extraction will kill them but as you are not trying to clean the carpets but rid them of an infestation then dry vapour or steam will do it a lot faster with less mess and probably more effectively.

The quickest way to spread scabies is by sex, so it looks like that might have had a cracking office xmas party, wonder if it was caught on CCTV.