French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his First Lady Carla Bruni were at the centre of a health scare today following an outbreak of scabies at the Elysee Palace.
Three sergeants works at the Paris mansion, official home for heads of state in France for centuries, were diagnosed with the unpleasant skin disease on Monday.
It is highly contagious, prompting fears that it could have affected Mr Sarkozy or Miss Bruni themselves.
He added that plaster was falling off walls, with some staff sleeping on collapsible beds in overcrowded rooms which were badly ventilated.
Some sheets offered to staff were so old that servants were forced to buy new ones themselves. Bedding was seldom changed, with vermin including rats and mice commonplace, the source added.
A spokesman for President Sarkozy said: 'Work is currently being carried out in the military quarters in order to prevent people having to live so close together - a common cause of scabies.
'Those suffering with the illness are being treated, while being kept isolated from other staff.
'They are expected to make a full recovery.'
Mr Sarkozy and Miss Bruni spend a great deal of time
working and entertaining at the Elysee but, unlike previous presidential couples, tend to sleep at a private house some two miles away in Paris's 16th arrondissement.
The £2million mansion is owned by Miss Bruni, who is massively wealthy in her own right, as she is a former supermodel and heiress to a fortune built up by her industrialist father.
Miss Bruni has often complained that she finds the Palace too stuff and formal.
She has also been concerned about her husband's health recently, after he collapsed while out jogging in the summer.
mercredi 14 octobre 2009
President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni in health scare after outbreak of scabies at Elysee Palace
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