Le Canapé is launching a series of interviews on contagious skin diseases with Dr Françoise Gahongayire. She obtained her specialization in dermatology and aesthetics in 2001 but has been a general practitioner since 1984. She has been practicing her medical career at the King Faysal Hospital since 2004 after having been in the academic world.
Le Canapé: What are the contagious skin diseases found in Rwanda?
Dr. Gahongayire: There are many skin diseases that are contagious in Rwanda. They come from many sources. We can often have viral diseases, but also parasitosis, fungal diseases, bacterial diseases and sexually transmitted diseases. There are several groups of diseases that can be contagious either from one person to another, or transmitted through genitals, saliva, … there are many diseases that appear on the skin but are contagious. The most common is especially GALE in parasites.
Le Canapé: What are the symptoms of scabies?
Dr Gahongayire: Scratching. People scratch especially at night. They scratch the lesions which are like pimples. They scratch the lesions located on the skin. It can be localized on the hands, on the buttocks, on the back, on the lower limbs, on the belt. Even on the breasts in women. The lesions are papules in dermatological terms that we often scratch; and by scratching them, we can cut off the heads and they become small wounds.
Le Canapé: How to prevent such a disease, avoid scabies, protect oneself?
Dr Gahongayire: Especially hygienic measures. It’s a disease that is transmitted through contact from person to person, but if someone touches your clothes, uses the same towel, sleeps in the same sheets, he can get the disease.
Le Canapé: In your medical career you receive many cases of this disease?
Dr. Gahongayire: Many, many cases. It is an ageless disease, anyone can catch it, even babies, old people, adults, anyone can catch this disease.
Le Canapé: a piece of advice to give?
Dr. Gahongayire: I was talking about hygiene, personal and individual hygiene, because you shouldn’t, for example, share the same toiletries, that’s really very important. So when you are sick, the first piece of advice is to go see the doctor. People don’t usually go to the doctor. When you don’t go to the doctor, you are continuing to proliferate this disease, to transmit it to others. And especially those around you. This is what we often see with children who are at boarding school. In boarding schools, many children have this. As soon as you have someone in the family who has contracted the disease, it is absolutely necessary to consult the doctor so that we can stop the spread of this parasite.
Here people don’t consult quickly. They tend to minimize skin diseases, they say to themselves that everything is treated with herbs, which is not correct because the diagnosis… to treat a disease well is to know how to make the diagnosis, to know how to give the right treatment, and to know if it is a disease that can be stopped, if it is a disease that can be completely cured. Because scabies is a disease that can be completely cured. But if it is not treated properly, it can continue to spread in the family and in the neighbourhood.
Gérard Rugambwa
