Louise (not her real name) is listing the contents of a bin liner she has packed with fresh essentials in case of emergency. Clothes, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, a teddy … “Although it should be two teddies,” she re-evaluates, quickly. I can hear her trying to quell her panic.
A diehard survivalist preparing for catastrophe? Actually, a beleaguered 44-year-old mother recovering from scabies – an itchy rash caused by microscopic mites that burrow under human skin. Far-fetched as it sounds, emergency evacuation is exactly what she, her partner and children (six and four) resorted to in November in a desperate bid to beat the bugs. She is now on tenterhooks in case they return.
