Scabies

What is scabies?

Scabies is a mite (tiny insect) that burrows into the skin. An itchy rash is caused when a female mite burrows into a person's skin to lay her eggs.

Scabies

Who gets scabies?

Anyone can get scabies. However, people with more sex partners have a greater risk of getting scabies.

How is scabies spread?

Scabies is very contagious. It is spread through:

Close personal contact, including close contact with a sexual partner.
Contact with unwashed bed linens, clothes, or towels of an infected person.

What are the signs and symptoms of scabies?

The scabies mite usually burrows into the skin of the wrists, the webs of the fingers, the abdomen, buttocks, and genital areas.
The burrows that mites make are usually hard to see. They are thread-like ridges 5-15 mm long. Small blisters might show up at the end of burrows.
Two to six weeks after exposure to the scabies mite, the burrows become raised and intense itching occurs, especially when the person becomes warm in bed after exercise or a hot shower or bath.
Scratching the burrows can cause infection. A rash or bumps can appear anywhere on the skin, but particularly between the fingers, inside the wrists, in the creases under the buttocks, in the creases of the abdomen, and around the genitals. The bumps can become inflamed, crusty, or hard.

The symptoms will appear quicker (often within hours after exposure) in people who have had scabies before.

How is scabies diagnosed?

Your health care provider will diagnose scabies by a physical examination of the rash. He/she may sometimes take a scraping of the rash to look under the microscope to look for mite eggs or parts of eggs.

How is scabies treated?

Scabies will not go away on its own. It is treated by oral or topical prescription medications.

There are also special creams, lotions, or shampoos that you can buy in a drug store, but make sure to talk to your health care provider before trying to treat yourself.

Even after you finish treatment and the scabies mite is dead, you could have itching for a while (often for weeks). If you scratch a lot, you may get an infection. If you get an infection, see your health care provider.

How can I prevent spreading scabies?

If you have scabies, you should:

Begin treatment right away to prevent spreading them to others.
Avoid close body contact with others.
Kill the mites and eggs. Wash your clothes and bed linens in hot water, or dry-clean or press them with a very hot iron. You can also put items in a bag for 72 hours so that the mites die. This will kill both the insects and eggs.
Tell your sex partner(s), anyone you have had close contact with, or anyone who has shared your bed linens, clothes, or towels. These people should be treated even if they don't have an itch or a rash.

How can I avoid getting scabies?

You have a much lower chance of getting scabies if:

You have only one sex partner who doesn’t have scabies. (Remember that condoms do not prevent scabies.)
You do not use other people's clothing or bedding.

If you think you might have scabies, talk to your health care provider and get treated right away.

Written by the CYWH and YMH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston

Updated: 2/19/2010

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