I've read that there are immigrants with scabies all over the train station. How safe am I a middle aged woman with luggage coming and going in the station?

scabies- where did you hear that - with proper precaution and be leery of anyone coming up to you you will be very safe - and you will not catch scabies unless you have contact with ticks.

Put angst to rest - again where did you read that?

Where exactly have you seen this info about the health issues of people in the train station. If you saw it on some blog I would just ignore it.

And why would an immigrant with a medical condition automatically be considered a risk to a tourist?

And sorry, but almost everyone in the train station will have luggage and be a respectable person. Do you feel some reason that these people will be targeting you?

IMHO the stories like this are simply scare stories from unknown sources. Look at where the info is coming from.

Do you think that there are no homeless persons in train or bus stations in the US?

If you are truly from Manhattan I'm sure you have seen some very unsavory people in Penn Station. Do you avoid going there?

A single incident proves little but I had the experience at Milano Centrale a few years ago of having my wife, while attending to our luggage as I was locating our hotel nearby, being approached by a number of people in a group initially offering "assistance" and then becoming quite threatening.
Fortunately, I arrived back just in time before they laid hands on the suitcases. This happened on the plaza outside the station.

If you walk with confidence, and look as if you now what you are doing you will be fine. Any hint of vulnerability (including standing outside with a lot of luggage) will be a sign to some, and not necessarily "immigrants", to target you. It doesn't matter which city in the world you are in that will always be the case.

'Scabies, also known as the seven-year itch, is a contagious ectoparasite skin infection'

Translates into 'galeux' in French.
If so avoid coming not only to Milan but to Europe : the same sources you read should tell you that all European are dirty people who never wash.

Myself, I live in a hellhole as Donald Trump found out, and whereas muslim laws (Belgium is run by ISIS) ask for us to wash we don't because we like to stay filthy - have always been, why change ? I also have MST, I hope you are not hoping to engage in relations in Europe, are you ?
And bring your own bedlinen, we never change those in hotels.

Ps : I hope I win the challenge of the week for the snarkiest answer, do I ?

The security at Milano Centrale has improved a lot recently. The internal redesign with a new ticket office has helped as have the restrictions on access to the tracks - you must now show a valid ticket before you are allowed to access this zone of the station. There is also more policing both inside and outside - the main plaza right in front of the station was a notorious pick-pocket zone.

SeeDee - the lesson to be learnt is to have a clear idea as to where you hotel is before leaving the station itself.

OP - are middle aged women alone more likely to pick up scabies? Just curious.

Well I am a woman travelling solo, soon to be using Milano Centrale and scabies was about the last thing on my mind! FFS!

Whathello, you are as funny as ever.

I am an older woman who usually travels solo. I changed trains in Milan Centrale last year. Aside from a long trek into the bowels of the station to find the toilets, and crowds of other people also wanting food, I had no issues.

The station seemed to be a lot cleaner and more organized than the last time I used it, in 2004. My concern would be pickpockets, not health, and I don't carry anything worth stealing in my pockets.

Dear Manhattaner, can you please post the source of your information regarding this unfortunate condition among the poor people who are fleeing war and terror? A quick google search on the subject of immigrants and scabies turned up some articles about scabies among immigrants in California. Since I am traveling there later this year; should I be worried?

A single incident proves little but I had the experience at Milano Centrale a few years ago of having my wife, while attending to our luggage as I was locating our hotel nearby, being approached by a number of people in a group initially offering "assistance" and then becoming quite threatening.
Fortunately, I arrived back just in time before they laid hands on the suitcases. This happened on the plaza outside the station.>>

can suitcases catch scabies?

we are exhorted to be kind to "newbies" but there are some people who probably just shouldn't travel.

incidentally, the OP seems to have fear of "foreign" maladies:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...e-in-march.cfm

Scabies, no. Just a nearly fatal case of bad luck.

Scabies is usually spread through prolonged periods of skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, or through sexual contact.
It's also possible – but rare – for scabies to be passed on by sharing clothing, towels and bedding with someone who's infected.

So the OP should be safe enough unless she intends to get very friendly with her fellow passengers, or stay in a very cheap hotel

Good lord - have we gone back to the dark ages? Do we now have to have anyone with leprosy (or other transmittable diseases) carry around a bell - ringing and calling out so that everyone can get out of their path?

Agree that the OP seems obsesses by diseases - but scabies? What type of relationship is she planning on having with these people?

So the OP should be safe enough unless she intends to get very friendly with her fellow passengers, or stay in a very cheap hotel>>

I think that that was the very opposite of her intention, MissPrism.

Lol Annhig !!!!

You know, Milan is a BIG city. "Right OUTSIDE the train station" is not INSIDE the train station. Why do you think those people were doing their number OUTSIDE instead of inside?

Agreed that you can't catch scabies merely by walking through a train station. But since so many have asked, a google query for "scabies milan" will show any number of sources for the OP's question, although most articles seem to be from last year. As an example: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/rome-mil...flux-1.2421272