Scabies Symptoms

Scabies Symptoms and What to Look For

Scabies is an extremely contagious skin disease, which can affect babies, children and adults. Scabies is a disease that is caused by the entrance and contraction of Scabies mites, which may be caught from another infected person. The Scabies mite is extremely small and very hard to detect. The use of a microscope or magnifying glass is usually the only way to physically see Scabies mites.

Due to their extremely small size, it's very easy for Scabies to get caught up in all kinds of places, primarily animals and humans. For this reason you should always be sure to keep any open wounds you may have covered at all times to prevent any entry of Scabies or any bacteria for that matter. Though, open wounds aren't the only way to get Scabies. Coming in physical contact with an infected person can also cause the transmission of the mite. If you know of anyone who is in fact a host of Scabies then you need to make sure to avoid contact with that person as much as possible.

You don't have to worry about being in the same room as the person as Scabies will never leave their host unless it's going to another host. It's very difficult to catch Scabies simply by shaking hands with a person, but there have been cases showing that this is still a possibility and it's better to be safe than sorry.

If you think you may have Scabies you may want to consider some of these Scabies symptoms and see if any of them pertain to your situation:

Severe Itching

The most common and obvious sign of Scabies is the continuous need to scratch your skin. If you feel a constant itching throughout the day and even more so at night, then you may want to get yourself checked out with your Doctor. Scabies burrow below the surface of the skin when they find a new host. As you can imagine, this leads to incredible itching and the need to scratch your skin all day long.

Bites

Another one of the various Scabies symptoms is the appearance or signs of small insect like bites on your skin. These may appear as open lesions on your skin or perhaps even raised parts of your skin that resemble pimples. When Scabies are living on a human host, they are constantly burrowing and biting their way through your skin to get where they're going. This is extremely uncomfortable and can cause serious irritation and distress in the sufferer.

Other Signs

You may also find small "S" shaped burrows that were left by the Scabies. These are tiny and can be easy to overlook, but if you find these you should see your Doctor immediately. Since Scabies have a short life span of only a month on humans, it's common for an infected person to have maybe only 5-10 mites on their body at a time. Dead mites will also cause irritation to your skin and further scratching of the infected area.

Places to look for Scabies symptoms are in the crevices of the human body. These places where Scabies symptoms are most common are in the crevices between the fingers, toes, elbows, the buttocks, under the breasts in women and the genital area. These areas should be inspected thoroughly if you suspect that you may have contracted Scabies from an infected person recently. It's important that if you find any of these Scabies symptoms that you pay a visit to your Doctor immediately to discuss treatment options to reduce the itching and kill off the mites before they spread even further.