"Dangerous little monsters - under the microscope"
Description of Scabies
Already Aristoteles wrote about the parasite Sarcoptes scabiei . The female mite can be seen only with eye, but for detecting the male you need a microscope. As you can see on the scanning microscope picture, the animal has a round shape. When burrowing into the skin, it causes a fierce, itchy skin condition known as scabies. Dermatologists estimate that more than 300 million cases of scabies occur worldwide every year. The disease can strike anyone of any race or age, regardless of personal hygiene. With better detection methods and treatments, scabies need not cause more than temporary distress.
How develops Scabies ?
- The mite causes an allergic reaction, with severe itching, often intense enough to keep sufferers awake all night, and frequently leading to a secondary infection.
- Attracted to warmth and odor, the female mite is drawn to a new host, making a burrow, laying eggs and producing secretions that cause an allergic reaction. Larvae hatch from the eggs and travel to the skin surface, lying in shallow pockets where they will develop into adult mites. It may be up to a month before a newly-infested person will notice the itching or swelling that can indicate the presence of scabies .
- No one is immune of scabies, anyone who has come into close contact can catch the disease.
Scabies is spread through personal contact
- Scabies is usually spread from person to person by close physical contact, such as touching a person who has scabies or holding hands. It can also be spread during sexual contact. Clothes, towels, bed sheets, etc., can spread the scabies mite if the items were recently in contact with a person who had scabies. The mites will die within 48 hours if they are away from the human body.
The most common symptom is a rash that itches intensely, especially at night
- The rash can be anywhere on your body but is usually on the hands, breasts, armpits, genital area, and waistline. Often the rash looks like red bumps or tiny blisters, which form a line. Symptoms begin 2 to 6 weeks after the first exposure or 1 to 4 days after re-exposure. Secondary bacterial infections of the skin may result from scratching.
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