Symptoms
Severe itching
Small red dots or black/gray lines on skin
Home care
Give nonprescription antihistamines to relieve itching.
Follow the doctor’s instructions for treating the scabies, and make sure that all family members are treated at the same time.
Launder the infected child’s undergarments, bedding, and towels to destroy the mites.
Precautions
- If mites attack the skin around a nursing mother’s nipples, scabies can occur on the baby’s face.
- Secondary infection can occur when the child scratches.
- Consult a doctor before using any medications for scabies.
- Consult a doctor before applying any medication to the face of a baby with scabies.
- Lindane ointment, which is sometimes prescribed to treat scabies, is poisonous and should be kept out of the reach of children.
- If treatment does not clear up scabies, the person may be re-infested; consult the doctor.
- Scabies is easily transferred from one person to another, and all family members should be treated at the same time.
Scabies is a skin infection caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabei, a crawling insect barely visible to the eye. These mites burrow under the skin to lay eggs. The eggs hatch quickly and continue to tunnel for two weeks until they mature. Mature mites congregate around hair follicles, mate, and begin the cycle all over again. Scabies is easily transmitted to others and can be spread by direct human contact. It is rarely spread by animals.
The infestation of the mites typically occurs in between the fingers and- toes, on the palms of the hands and undersides of the wrists, in the armpits, at the waistline, and, in males, on the penis. Because mites may also attack the skin around a woman’s nipples, scabies sometimes occurs on the face of a breast-fed infant.
*179/84/5*
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.