S.T.I uninformed story.

A friend posted a photographic vignette of old tins and containers of favourite products Kenyans used decades ago.

He captioned it: “Tumetoka mbali” (we’ve come a long way).

Taking a second look at the photo, what came to mind was the pain and stigma that existed back then against those with scabies.

My teacher cheekily referred to the scratchy disease as ‘ugonjwa wa kupiga guitar’ (guitar-strumming disease).

“Why are you playing the guitar and I can’t hear the sound of music?” he would ask annoyingly.

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Scabies is an itchy skin disease caused by a mite known scientifically as Sarcoptes Scabiei.

Dr Okello Odiyo of Mwea Mission Hospital says that the disease is transmitted through physical contact.

“The mite burrows inside the skin and causes itchiness. The affected person scratches as a result. The organism survives only when there is a host. Outside the body, it can’t live for long,” he adds.

The mite responsible for scabies is not visible with naked eyes. An interesting aspect of scabies is that it cay easily pass for a sexually transmitted disease.

Joking about it, Dr Okello says: “we (doctors) still  don’t know whether to categorise it as an STI or not, since it is almost certain that any infected individual coming in close contact with another will transmit it. The disease is highly contagious, especially in cases that involve a lot of contact.”

Scabies can easily become an epidemic in schools, where children interact frequently. And now that schools