Symptoms of Scabies - Signs & Diagnosis

What are some signs and symptoms of scabies?

The appearance of scabies generally is announced by the presence of papules (medical term for bumps or raised surfaces on the skin) or blisters that are small and red in color on the body.

The areas involved could be the small web-like surfaces between digits (fingers), the wrist area and the elbow region.

Also, other areas may be affected, like the knees, the entire circumference area of the waist and umbilicus, around the nipples, the feet area, as well as the genital and gluteal regions.

The papules could be concealing blood crusts and it is interesting to note that a small colony of parasites numbering not more than 10 – 15 microscopic mites can cause hundreds of papules and pimples on the surface of the skin.

More about the symptoms of scabies - a significant feature of the skin condition is that the infected surface area of the skin will display burrows or tunnel-like projections that run lengthwise approximately 5 millimeters to 15 millimeters long.

These threadlike lines are either red or brown lines which should not be confused with linear scratch patters that appear on the skin when a person is suffering from itches or rash, non-related to scabies, such as eczema and hives.

One of the symptoms of scabies is that the itching produced by the condition is intense and continuous and increases over time. This is different from itching in hives or eczema where the itching pattern waxes and wanes over a period of time.

Itching produced by scabies is barely noticeable in the initial period but gradually gets worse consistently over a period of time. At night, the itching is so severe that the infected person finds it impossible to sleep.

Scabies Diagnosis

Since the symptoms of scabies seem superficially similar to that of eczema or hives, the only way of ensuring clear diagnosis is by taking a skin scraping for examination under a microscope to check for the presence of mites, mite eggs or mite faeces which is termed scybala - this can confirm the diagnosis.

Sometimes, the chances of a correct diagnosis goes wrong when the skin or biopsy sample is negative for mites, but the patient could be a carrier of the parasite, and could well be manifesting the symptoms of scabies.

Since the number of mites present on the body of the person could be as little as 10 – 12 mites, the diagnosis could be missed or inaccurate.

Crusted or Norwegian scabies, which is a different type of scabies, can host large colonies of mites and is highly contagious.

The onset of disease is different for a person who is infested with scabies for the first time and for that of a person who is having a subsequent relapse of the disease.

For the first time infected patient of scabies, symptoms can manifest after a long gestation period of 6 weeks, and for a person who has contracted scabies multiple times, the symptoms will appear in a few days.

More scabies information is available in the other related scabies articles.

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Some Related Scabies Pages

What is Scabies? - Introduction

Discussion on Scabies Causes

Symptoms of Scabies - Signs & Diagnosis

Treating Scabies using Medications - For Information

Home Remedy for Scabies - Natural Treatment and Cures