Scabies is an infectious skin disease caused by a particular species of mite. Scabies mites will burrow into the skin, and precipitate relentless and awful itching. Scabies can be spread from person to person and through contact with clothing, towels, and bedding. Scabies is common worldwide and can affect anyone. Treated with medicated lotions, scabies is a problem in that anyone who has contact with a person infected with these mites will need to be treated as well.
The microscopic mite that causes scabies is known by the scientific name of Sarcoptes scabei, and is a minute eight-legged creature. These tiny mites, only about a third of a millimeter in length, need a warm body to survive, unable to live much more than two days without one. Scabies mites can barely be seen with the human eye, and when they burrow down under the skin, they cause itching due to an allergic reaction to their feces. Scabies can affect anyone, with little heed to their social status, and they are often mistaken for or confused with lice, although the treatments for the two are similar. Scabies is most widespread in people living in overcrowded conditions who are unable to practice good hygiene. The scabies mite is spread through close human contact, and it is believed that it is possible to get scabies from something as quick as a handshake. Hugging someone is long enough to give them scabies, so naturally sexual intercourse is another way. Scabies mites can infect bed sheets and clothing, but must have had to do so recently for them to be able to infect someone who comes in contact with those items. Contrary to popular misconception, scabies cannot be caused by dog mites; canine mites are unable to flourish on a person as scabies do.
The symptoms of scabies are easy to overlook at first, small insect-type bites on the skin. They may look like pimples and be reddened from scratching the area. The mite’s migration path under the skin can sometimes leave a short S-shaped telltale track. Scabies frequently appears in such places as between the toes and fingers, the folds of the elbows, in the armpits, waist region, genital area, and under the breasts of women and in the buttocks above the anus. The female scabies mite will lay one to three eggs each day, and if left to her own devices, she will keep this up for about five weeks. When these eggs hatch, it will take about two weeks for them to turn into adults; they will also burrow around under the skin and lay eggs. In most cases of scabies, there are only ten to fifteen mites on the person infected. The itching that scabies causes is enough to keep people from sleeping, and it actually does get worse at night and after a hot shower. It may not be recognized for as long as six weeks after the first infestation and sometimes the scratching that causes redness obscures the S shaped track that can give scabies away.
Your doctor will scrape some skin from one of the affected areas to attempt to find the scabies mite or its eggs under a microscope. Once scabies is established as the culprit behind your severe bouts of itching, you will be treated with various medications and creams. Most often, Elimite is used, a cream that is applied from head to toe and left on for at least ten hours and as long as fourteen before being washed off in the shower. The optimal times to apply Elimite are at bedtime and then wash it off in the morning. The treatment is then replicated in one week; children as youthful as a couple of months old can be treated with Elimite. The treatment for scabies used to be a medication known as Kwell, but it is used now only in rare circumstances as it causes dizziness and possible seizures. The itching from scabies can be dealt with through the employment of anti-itch medications such as Benadryl. All members of the family and close contacts of anyone diagnosed with scabies need to be treated in a similar manner. This can mean that quite a few people need treatment, depending on how soon the diagnosis is made. The itching can last up to two weeks even after the scabies is gone, but that does not mean that the treatment failed.
To avoid a reinfestation of scabies, it will be necessary to wash all clothing, bedding, towels, and other articles that have been exposed to someone with scabies. Hot water that is at least one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit should be used, and special detergents are available with Borax to kill any existing scabies mites in the laundry. Combs and brushes need to be disinfected as well; anything that comes in contact with the body needs this treatment. Obviously, if your child has scabies, they should be kept out of school or daycare, and the people in charge should be notified of the situation. If you have had a bout with scabies, cut your nails and clean under them thoroughly, as the mites like to live there. When you vacuum, throw the bag away, as the scabies mites can be in there.
