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For four months, the “Johansen” family struggled with the intense itching.
The intense itching resulted in a complete hospitalization and sky-high bills for a treatment that didn’t work.
The family of three went through for the first time for several weeks without realizing what was causing the itching in the mother and baby.
The family wants to remain anonymous. It is the mother who talks to TV 2.
25,000 crowns spent on scabies: – The price can cause a negative spiral of infection.
After several rounds at a total of three different skin clinics, they discovered that scabies was the cause of the ailments.
– It started with a slight itch between the fingers. But at the same time I saw that our little daughter had little dots on her stomach. At first we were told to wait a few weeks, but in the meantime the itching became so intense that we scratched at our large wounds, a mother of a child tells TV 2.
Admitted to hospital
In clinics, doctors’ offices, and hospitals, they received the same message over and over again.
– I don’t know how many times we had to take the treatment that the health authorities say we should take, but nothing works. We were told that it was very easy to get rid of. That is completely wrong.
This is scabies:
- Tiny mites that burrow times in the skin and lay eggs
- It will be 0.3-0.5mm long.
- It lays small eggs on the skin that hatch into larvae after 3-4 weeks.
- Scabies causes an intense itch that can last for a long time.
- Infection occurs through direct contact with the skin or through bedding and clothing.
Source: National Institute of Public Health
For four months they continued with the treatment recommended by FHI.
The itching of the baby and the mother became so bad that they were admitted to the hospital on Christmas 2019. After three days of treatment, they were discharged on Christmas Eve.
They had to celebrate Christmas in a hotel because they were quarantined for scabies.
– What father are we going to do then? Nothing works. We repeated the treatment over and over again, also in the hospital they did it. A week after we were discharged, the itching returned. One can imagine how frustrated one becomes at the intense itching that has kept the whole family from sleeping at night for so long, says TV 2’s mom.
BABY’S FOOT: The baby’s feet were full of sores after the baby had scratched so much. Photo: Private
In Norway, a cream is used as well as tablets with the active ingredients permitrin and ivermectin as the first treatment.
Several TV 2 chief doctors speak to express great concern about the use of these tools, in part because scabies is seen to be increasingly tolerated by more of these drugs.
Awesome bill
The bill ended at 52,000 crowns. The state does not reimburse anything.
– The drug is very expensive and we have been through the expensive recommended treatment countless times, he says.
– We spent a total of 52,000 crowns on medicines, hospitals and doctor’s offices. But the most disturbing thing is that no chief doctor gave us advice that there is a drug in Sweden, continues the mother.
WOUND The itching became so severe that the baby and family were hospitalized. Photo: Private
In February, they received advice for traveling to Sweden, where you can get a cream that contains the active ingredient benzyl benzoate. This active ingredient is known to work against scabies.
The answer was over the limit
Because on the other side of the border was the solution. Within two hours of driving from home, they could go to a Swedish pharmacy, which has access to medicines that Norway does not have.
At the pharmacy, they paid 250 crowns for drugs with benzyl benzoate. 24 hours later the itching disappeared.
– Here we have spent 52,000 crowns in Norway, we have been hospitalized and scratched for a year, and then it is very easy to cross the border. It’s strange that we don’t make it in Norway, she says.
– It is completely crazy that it is possible to travel a few hours and then be healthy after a 250 crown treatment, she says.
– Lack of medicine
Øystein Grimstad, chief physician at the University Hospital in northern Norway, tells TV 2 that the drug used by the family is the first choice for doctors.
He wonders why it is not available in Norway.
SUPERVISOR Øystein Grimstad at UNN.
– The drug is in Sweden, but in Norway we cannot receive it. You can ask questions about why we can’t get a drug, which we know works, in this country, says Grimstad.
– If you live next to the border, it is so simple that you can cross and then you will find the solution. Doctors try to achieve it, but since we do not produce it ourselves, it is expensive to import it, he explains.
Delivery issues
The Norwegian Medicines Agency is aware of the problem surrounding the lack of benzyl benzoate.
– We are aware of the problems and are looking at what we should do to make it cheaper and easier for manufacturers to enter the market in Norway, says Steinar Madsen, medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
Reidun Ree, General Manager of Service Production at the Norwegian Pharmacy Association, tells TV 2 that there have been delivery problems in the last year, but that it has now been resolved.
– There were delivery problems earlier this year and in 2019 due to high demand and challenges with the procurement of raw materials. Now our lab confirms that we can deliver again, Ree writes in a text message to TV 2
