SCABIES

What is scabies?  Scabies is a contagious skin condition characterized by itchy bumps and blisters onthe surface of the skin. It is caused by Sarcoptesscabiei, which is a small, eight-legged burrowing miteand is not visible to the naked eye. Scabies can easilyspread from person to person.                                                                                                        

SYMPTOMS:                                                                                                                                           

• Scabies produce red itchy bumps and blisters on different areas of your body. The most commonsymptom of scabies is severe itching. Itching tends tobe worse at night. Scabies is common between the fingers and toes, in the armpits, wrists, backs of the elbows, the soles of the feet, around the waist, breasts, genitals, buttocks and navels, etc.
• The bumps are medically known as papules, whichmay contain blood crusts. The affected area may be painful due to repeated scratching. Open wounds are prone to bacterial infection. However, every bump is not a bug. The average person has only taken 10 to 15 live mites even if there are hundreds of bumps.

• Crusted scab is a severe form of scabies, characterized by skin thickening and flaky skin rash. People with poor immune systems or who are malnourished are susceptible to crusted scabies. Crusted scabiessymptoms can vary from person to person as the result of the crust scab may or may not itch.
•  Crustedscabies is considered the most contagious form ofscabies to be.
• Scabies mites are very sensitive to their environment.They can not survive no more than 2 or 3 days withouta human host. If you have never been exposed toscabies, it may be 4-6 weeks before itching and skinsores after the first infection. However, if you had it before, the symptoms within a few days.
• Scabies spreads easily from person to person by skin-to-skin or sexual contact with someone infected with it. It often affects family members at the same time. Sharing clothing, bedding, towels or otherpersonal items can also spread the mites. You can notget scabies from pets and all animals are affected by their own different types of mites.

prevention of scabies:

• Avoiding direct physical contact with the person whohas scabies, but also with their personal belongings is the best way to prevent scabies.If someone in your family has scabies, other family members should be treated.
• Clothing, towels and bedding should be washed in hotsoapy water as long as scabies mites can live 2-3days.
• Every room in the house must be thoroughly cleaned.                                     

EPIDEMOLOGY:

• Scabies is one of the three most common skin disorders in children with tinea and pyoderma. The mites are spread all over the world and even infect allages, races and socioeconomic classes in differentclimates.Scabies is more often seen in crowdedareas with unhygienic living conditions.Globally from 2009, estimated that 300 million cases of scabies areevery year, but several parties claim the figure is eitherover-or underestimated. Approximately 1-10% of the world is estimated to be infected with scabies, but insome groups, the infection rate may reach 50-80%.
• Scabies is one of the three most commondermatologic disorders in children.

Scabies to hand