About 20 employees at Northeast Georgia Medical Center presented minor symptoms of scabies and were treated after coming in contact with a patient with an advanced form of the skin disease, according to hospital spokeswoman Melissa Tymchuck.

She said employees at the Gainesville hospital were not tested to confirm the disease but were treated as if they had it. Some 112 employees who had been in contact with the patient but did not show symptoms also were treated, Tymchuck said.

The patient had been under contact isolation precautions but after it was determined to be a more advanced form, the patient was put under more strict isolation.

"It's not uncommon for us to have patients occasionally that have scabies, and that typically is not passed on to employees because we follow the contact isolation precautions," Tymchuck said. "But in this case it was a more advanced form and that's why we had this unusual result."