Human itch or mange mite is the scabies mite a tiny insect produces contagious disease of the skin with intense itching. Once contacted, the scabies female makes burrows in the skin of the infected person and lays eggs. The skin infestation has a continue cycle because the larvae come to the surface of the skin and causes rashes, become adult and mate, the females get pregnant and lay eggs in the burrows.

Sometimes mite tunnels may be visible on the skin of a person with scabies. If you have scabies it doesn't mean that you are dirty or careless. Because it has a high rate of appearance during the sexual act it has been classified as a sexually transmitted disease, but it also transmits in various ways such as: in people living in close quarters, hospitals, daycare centers, homes, prisons, through clothes, sheets, towels or furniture.

Anyone may catch scabies from doctors, teachers to elderly people in wheel chairs, the age, sex, races have no importance. But the following groups are more susceptible: those persons that live and work in public institutions, crowded places, care-givers in day care centers, people with multiple sex partners, patients with weakened immune system, people who work in hospitals and nursing homes.

Identifying scabies

Symptoms: intense itching especially during the night on any part of the skin, rash-on hands, skin folds, waist, buttocks, underarms, elbows, knees, skin between the fingers, the dark area around the nipple. In adults and old people scabies appears as small bite of insects, in children appear as tiny vesicles.

The rash can also be extended to neck, head, palms, soles of the feet. Red nodules quite wide may occur where the skin is covered by clothes. In few weeks from the infestation with scabies the symptoms appear as reactions of the immune system of the person infected. In person who had the disease previous the symptoms appear sooner in 1-4 days.

Diagnosis

Because scabies is a very contagious illness it is important to see a professional as soon as possible. It may take few days or weeks before you get rid of the scabies depends on how spread it is and when it is diagnosed. With proper treatment in 1-3 days the symptoms are reduced, the rash and itching are subside. Without treatment scabies is a long term infection that affects the people with whom you come in close contact. Your doctor knows exactly what type of skin lesions to look for and where.

There may appear some complications because persistent scratching makes the skin crusty and secondary infections may appear because of the scratching and other bacteria that are located on the skin.