Prevention of Scabies
Prevention of scabies
Mite - sarcoptes scabei burrow into the skin causing itcing.
Itching persists for 2 weeks even after treatment
- Avoid skin contact with infested persons
- Avoid contact with their bedding, clothing, furniture
- Avoid sexual or other intimate contact with them
- Casual contact like shaking hands may be permitted
- Treatment with permethrin for all the contacts in the household at the same time
- Permethrin can be used on infants 2 months and older, Lindane is not for children
- All the clothes washed in hot water and dried in the hot sun or using the hottest dryer cycle
- Since mites do not survive for more than two or three days away from human skin, furniture can be enclosed in plastic bags for several days. and kept away.
- First infestation may not cause itching for upto two months, but may spread
- Scabies may be misdiagnosed as pimples or mosquito bites - henc avoid contact
- Norwegian, or crusted, scabies is less common but is a particularly severe form of the condition that requires more stringent prevention methods, including thorough cleaning of all rooms used by the affected person.
Sarcoptes scabeii - the mites that cause scabies under the microscope