Sarcopte scabiei or the itch mite. If you have ever been exposed to even the idea of this mite, you may be already feeling a phantom itch on your skin. It is a parasitic infestation and it will hurt.
Just over a year ago, there was a scabies outbreak in Cardiff. There were many images of belongings in the iconic green recycling bags—following the NHS guidance is to bag up your belongings which you can’t wash so you can kill the mites that are living in them. Just four months ago, there was another outbreak across the UK, scabies cases in England are 72% higher for the time of year than the average over the past five years. So, it is not surprising that the mites are here to stay. Here, we are hopeful to provide you a survival guide that will help if such a horrible outbreak befalls you.
It can take two to five weeks after the initial exposure for the symptoms to arrive. So, you can’t exactly blame the person you sat next to in a lecture the day before but if you spent the night at a friend’s house after a trip to a nightclub a month ago, it may be your friend has passed them to you.
The simple symptoms of scabies are a severe itch that gets worse at night, bumps around your fingers, arms, legs, and belt area, bumps on places you don’t want bumps, and an itchy lines - which is where the mites have burrowed into your skin. The mites lay eggs in your skin, leaving lines with a dot at one end. The rash that they leave is common between your fingers. Shockingly, the rash that scabies gives you usually doesn’t affect your head and neck.
The NHS recommends that you wash all bedding and clothing in the house at 60°C or higher, and if possible in a hot dryer, on the first day of treatment, and put clothing that cannot be washed in a sealed bag for at least three days until the mites die. The NHS doesn’t recommend having sex or close physical contact until you have completed the full course of treatment or sharing bedding, clothing, or towels with someone with scabies.
To treat scabies, you will be given topical medication to treat all your skin from the neck down. You’ll have to apply it at night when the mites are most active! You will then have to sleep in it (upsetting) and wash it off in the morning. The topical treatments may cause burning, swelling, numbness, or irritation to your skin. You can take additional medicine to relieve some of the bothersome symptoms: such as antihistamines to help itching, steroid creams to relieve swelling and itching, and prescribed antibiotics to kill any infections that may come.
Scabies is a stigmatised rash to have. It has a reputation for being something that you get when you’re dirty or unclean. The mites burrow, you can’t wash them off. However, a high reason for not reporting them and their stigma is that the symptoms of scabies can appear on your groin and buttocks—two areas where shame is all too well-known. However, an infection does not go away unless correctly diagnosed and treated.
Catch the mites, report the mites, burn the mites. Catch, report, burn—and then you will feel a thousand times better.