Scabies - Mites Dig Deep Under Your Skin

Scabies are normally transferred by way of prolonged intimate contact with an infested person. Scabies is a highly contagious skin disease caused by an itch mite and typified by burrows.

The mites do not fly or jump and just move very slowly. They can exist outside a human host up to four days. At this time, they can be transferred to humans through infested household items, clothes, sheets and other personal items.

The itch mite that causes the scabies is called Sarcoptes scabiei. This type of mites is attracted by the heat and the smell of the human body. Female mites go into the skin, literally digging small tunnels, the size of very small threads, which sometimes are visible. That is the place where the parasites lay their eggs.

A healthy person can be contaminated by prolonged, intimate contact with a person that is infested. One can also have the mites by handling items that have been used or clothing materials that have been worn by the infested person.

The mite can penetrate the skin with ease, particularly in rough wrinkled areas of the skin, such as the knees, elbows, and between fingers.

After going under the skin, a female mite can lay up to twenty eggs before it dies. Those eggs laid under the skin will transform into larva three days later. The larva moves on the surface of the skin and they become adults after fourteen to seventeen days later. The whole cycle continues until the itchy mites are destroyed.

The itch mites will only infect humans and not our animal pets, and vice versa. The animal mites will stay on the animals since they cannot exist and reproduce on the human body.

Still, they can live long enough on human skin to cause itches, allergies, or produce papules in a few days. As we mentioned before, scabies are very contagious. Parasites can be transmitted to healthy people even after the infected ones have no more symptoms, if they are not treated properly. After the first contamination takes place, several weeks must pass so that the symptoms are back on the skin.

Right before the re-emergence of the symptoms, the patient is highly contagious because this is also the mite's incubation period. Symptoms of the infectation become more significant after taking a bath in the evening. You could mistake the infested skin area for dry skin, because it resembles dry skin.

The itchy feeling could be caused by the allergic reactions to the toxins released by the mites, their eggs or their waste. Infected children and older people might have more adverse reaction and experience even more severe itch.

The skin has the aspect of a rash and small curves can be noticed at the sensitive skin level. These are the results of the tunnels dug by the mites. Sometimes, a small black dot can be seen. It is the parasite itself, at the end of the lesion.

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