Scabies Disease: A Neglected Global Disease Treatment and Causes
The human itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei), a minute, an eight-legged parasite that digs into the top layer of the skin to eat and survive, causes scabies disease. Female mites lay their eggs here as well. When this occurs, the skin frequently breaks out with itchy, pimple-like rashes due to an allergic response to the scabies mites, larvae, and excrement.
Though the thought of scabies is distressing, the best part is that treatment is easy. Scabies therapy includes topical therapies and oral medication based on the extent of the infestation. These medicines are now only accessible by prescription, so it’s critical to see your doctor to treat the problem.
Scabies Symptoms
Scabies often induces acute itching, which can be exceptionally bothersome at night, and it could be so prolonged that it prevents you from sleeping. This itching is the first and most noticeable symptom of scabies.
Scabies can affect almost any part of your body. Still, the mites chose specific areas, like the hands (particularly between the fingers and across the nails), underarms, elbows, forearms, and regions of skin that are usually covered by garments, such as the shoulder blades, groin region, breasts, the region around the waistline, and the hips. Jewelry-covered skin, such as wristwatches, bangles, or rings, is also frequently affected.
Itching and rash can afflict the head, face, collar, palms, and soles in small children and babies, not adults or older children. Scabies rashes in newborns and young children may be redder or have more prominent blisters.
You may also observe tiny, snaking, elevated lines a centimeter long created mainly by female scabies mites digging underneath the skin. These burrows are skin-colored or grayish-white. Since they can be hard to spot, they could be found in the webbing among fingers, the creases of the wrists, knees, elbows, and the groin region, bosom, and shoulder blades.
How is Scabies Related To STDs?
Scabies can spread by close physical touch or sexual interaction with an infected person. Scabies can also contract if exposed to contaminated furnishings, clothes, or linens for an extended duration. It’s also commonly confused with pubic lice since the symptoms are similar.
Condoms, dental dams, and other protection measures are not efficient against scabies because they’re against other sexually transmitted diseases. When you or your spouse has scabies, you must both undergo treatment to avoid spreading the infection to one another.
Scabies Causes
Scabies primarily spread through the direct skin-to-skin encounter with a person having scabies disease. Also it frequently spreads by extended contact, implying you won’t get it from a casual hug or handshake.
This type of direct contact is most common among members of the same family or in:
- long-term care establishments and nursing homes
- hospitals
- daycares, dorms, and student housing
- Prisons
Furthermore, in some situations, sharing personal objects that come into contact with your skin, like clothes, napkins, and bedding, might transmit scabies to others. However, this is more common in cases with crusted scabies, a kind of scabies that could affect persons with weak immune systems.
Scabies Disease Treatment and Prevention
Scabies treatment typically involves with a prescription ointment or lotion. Even if your sexual partners don’t display any noticeable symptoms of scabies, they require medical attention and scabies disease treatment.
After a shower, your doctor will probably instruct you to administer the medication to your skin, including your neck and feet. Some drugs are also appropriate to use on your face and hair.
These topical treatments need to be kept on for 8 to 10 hours at a stretch. So do not apply them before having a bath or shower. Relying on the type of drug used or the appearance of additional rashes, you may require many therapies.
Eradicating mites is essential for the scabies treatment to be effective, which entails using a scabicide, a type of drug. While various over-the-counter medicines and solutions may help minimize or mitigate symptoms such as itching, they will not eliminate mites. Scabicides are now only available through a doctor’s prescription.
To guarantee successful treatment and limit the risk of re-exposure, clothing, bedding, and towels used by a scabies patient or anybody in close touch with them needs washing in hot water and then drying at high temperature. You can either dry-clean those items or place them in a Ziploc bag for a minimum of 72 hours to destroy any remaining mites. Vacuum your home as soon as you begin therapy.
Scabies Prevention
Other than avoiding direct contact with an infected person and specific objects they’ve utilized, like clothing, mattresses, and towels, there is presently no definite way to prevent having scabies. When somebody has scabies, their sexual encounters and any individuals of their family must also receive treatment, while at the same time to prevent reinfection. If you’re sexually active, wait until both you and your spouse have finished treatment before having intercourse. Though condoms can help avoid certain sexually transmitted diseases, they are ineffective in the skin-to-skin interaction that scabies transmits through.
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Bottom Line
Scabies disease is an infectious skin disease that could affect anyone. While HPV transmits by sexual contact, it usually transmits through nonsexual skin-to-skin interaction.
When secondary infections occur due to a scabies infestation, problems can occur. The constant scratching might cause open sores that can become infected with bacteria. When bacteria reach the bloodstream, they could lead to life-threatening infections.