Scabies was once very common, but now there are much less incidences. It is a skin infection that can occur in animals and humans alike. When you want to know what is scabies and how to treat it, you will first have to find out its causes, which is the stuff of which nightmares are made of. Scabies is caused by Sarcoptes scabiei, an eight-legged tiny mite insect. They do not live on your skin, like many other mites, but rather burrow underneath it. This leads to an allergic reaction, causing inflammation, redness, and intense itching. Usually, mites will infect at the exact spot where they first came into contact with the host, which can be on any part of the body.
Learning What Is Scabies and How to Treat It:
Scabies mites like to find parts of the body that are hairless and soft. This makes it easier for them to burrow. As a result, it is common to see these infections in the genital area, breasts, buttocks, waist, elbows, and in between the fingers and toes. Animals can also have scabies, but the infection is slightly different. Specifically, it is known as sarcoptic mange. Like human scabies, it leads to rashes and itching and sometimes even in hair loss.
It is important to know what is scabies and how to treat it because it is such a contagious condition. It can be passed between hosts, human or animal, through any kind of skin to skin contact. It is more difficult for animal mites to live on human hosts, which means the resulting infection is usually only short lived. However, scabies mites can live for as long as a month when there is a host. They can also live for around three days without a host, which means infection can still happen at that point.
Scabies Symptoms:
The most typical scabies symptom is intense itching, which generally gets a lot worse at night. Additionally, people will start to develop rashes, usually looking like little red bumps, not unlike pimples. Those appear where the mites have bitten. Often, S-shaped burrows start to form underneath the skin as well, which shows how the mite has moved. Animals experience the same symptoms, as well as hair loss.
Who Can Get Scabies?
Scabies is highly contagious, which means anyone can get it. In fact, if one person in the household has it, it is likely that everybody else in the household is infected. It is particularly common in people with compromised immune systems and those who are malnourished. Scabies also spreads more rapidly in congested environments such as care homes and hospitals.
Scabies Treatment Options:
People diagnosed with scabies will usually be prescribed a medicated soap, ointment, and cream. They may also take over-the-counter antihistamines to stop the intense itching. If the infection is serious, a physician may prescribe ivermectin pills. Animals should be washed with medicated soap. They may also receive pills or even intravenous medication.
It is also very important to treat the environment in which someone with scabies lived, ensuring that the mites have all died.
