Scabies Debate Rages at Harvard

After definitively telling Bostonist that a scabies outbreak happened at Harvard's Pennypacker Hall, the school's University Health Service (UHS) sent out an e-mail saying might not have been scabies after all. Maybe.

The memo from UHS sent Wednesday afternoon states that the results are inconclusive and that the ants in the Pennypacker pants resulted from "unknown" causes. Ivy Gate Blog has a copy of the memo, which says, "As is frequently the case with rashes, the simple symptoms can lead to a variety of diagnosis, and it is often difficult to tell, in the absence of definitive testing, which one is correct."

This noncommittal tone is a change from the definitive nature of the e-mail David Rosenthal, the director of University Health Services, sent to Bostonist a little while back: "We have no evidence that it was mosquito bites. It was scabies."

The important thing is that, according to the memo, the scabies or whatever it was have left the building. But, whatever UHS is telling you, if you're a Pennypacker Hall resident or having relations with a Pennypacker Hall resident, get any sudden outbreaks of the itchies checked out.

No pictures of scabies here! Do not look for pictures of scabies online or you will lose your appetite!