Facts You Never Knew About Scabies

The small burrowing mite Sarcoptes scabiei is what causes the scratchy skin rash known as scabies. In the vicinity of the mite’s burrow, there is severe itching. The need to itch could be more intense at night.

In a household, child care facility, classroom, nursing home, or jail, close person-to-person contact may spread scabies fast. Because scabies spreads so quickly, medical professionals often advise treating every member of the family or any close connections.

It is simple to cure scabies. The scabies-causing mites and their eggs are killed by prescription skin treatments and tablets. However, the itching may continue for many weeks following therapy.

Symptoms

Symptoms of scabies include:

• Itching that is often acute and worse at night
• Little blisters or lumps on the skin that are arranged into thin, wavy tunnels

Skin creases are a frequent location for scabies. Scabies, however, may affect many different body areas. The most frequent cases of scabies are in older children and adults:

• Between the toes and the fingers
• Under the arms
• Close to the waist
• Along the wrist’s inside
• Inside of the elbows
• The bottoms of the feet
• Across the chest
• Between the nipples
• Little below the abdominal button
• Close to the genitalia
• Around the groin
• Within the buttocks

Common scabies locations in newborns and young children often include:

• Fingers
• Head, neck, and face
• The hands’ palms
• Feet’s bottoms

If you’ve already had scabies, symptoms might appear a few days after exposure. Symptoms of scabies might take up to six weeks to appear if you’ve never had them. Even if you have no symptoms currently, you may still transmit scabies.

When to see a doctor

If you have any scabies symptoms, see your healthcare professional.

Numerous skin disorders, including dermatitis or eczema, may also result in skin irritation and tiny bumps. Your doctor can determine the precise source of your symptoms so you can get the correct treatments. Lotions without a prescription or antihistamines may reduce irritation. However, they cannot eliminate the mites or their eggs.

Causes

A small, eight-legged mite is responsible for scabies. The female mite creates a tunnel just below the skin and burrows there to deposit her eggs.

The mite eggs hatch, and the larvae go to the skin’s surface where they develop. The skin of other persons or other sections of the body may subsequently get infected with these mites. The body’s allergic response to the mites, their eggs, and their excrement results in itching.

The mites may spread via close skin-to-skin contact and, less often, by sharing clothes or bedding with a person who has scabies.

Scabies is not transferred by pets to people. Animal-specific scabies mites cannot live or reproduce in humans.

However, if the mite penetrates the skin after coming into touch with an animal that has scabies, it could produce momentary irritation. The mite will, however, pass away in a few days. Thus, no therapy is required.

Complications

Overscratching may damage your skin and lead to infections like impetigo. Impetigo is a skin-surface infection most often brought on by staph bacteria (staphylococci) or sometimes by strep bacteria (streptococci).

Those who are susceptible to crusted scabies, a more severe form of scabies, include:

• Little children
• Developmentally disabled individuals
• People whose immune systems are compromised, such as those who have HIV or lymphoma, or those who have had organ transplantation
• Those with severe illnesses, such as those residing in hospitals or nursing homes
• Elderly residents of nursing facilities

Large portions of the body are affected by crusted scabies, which causes the skin to become scaly and crusty. It may be difficult to cure and is highly infectious. It requires immediate treatment with a skin lotion and a prescription tablet.

A person with scabies often has 10 to 15 mites. An individual with crusted scabies, however, can have millions of mites. Yet itching may not happen or could be slight.

Prevention

Take the following actions to stop scabies from returning and to stop the mites from infecting other people:

• Wash all linens and clothing. The mites and their eggs are killed by heat. Before starting treatment, wash all of your clothes, towels, and bedding in hot, soapy water. dry with a hot air. Items you can’t wash at home may be dry-cleaned.
• Deny the mites food. Put everything you can’t wash in sealed plastic bags and store them somewhere out of the way for a week, like your garage. Without nourishment, mites expire after a few days.
• Vacuum and clean. Cleaning your house is a smart idea if you want to stop the spread of scabies. People with crusted scabies are most affected by this. To get rid of scales and crusts that can contain scabies mites, vacuum furniture, carpets, and floors.