Introduction to scabies: A child has an itchy rash. Someone has
called it eczema, or something like that, and a cortisone cream
was prescribed. But the itching never improved. Or perhaps your
child has no rash at all, but scratches relentlessly. Either
way, perhaps the child has undiagnosed scabies. What is scabies?
Scabies are tiny mites that are quite common and can infest the
skin. Itching is caused by a normal allergic reaction to the
mites, their eggs, and their feces. Itching may be quite
intense, and often appears before any visible sign of
infestation. The adult female mite is the size of a pinpoint and
is barely visible to the unaided eye. She has four sets of legs
on a round body covered with brown spines and bristles. When she
lands on someone’s skin, she burrows underneath the outer layer
within 30 minutes, usually without being noticed. Every day she
extends her burrow by up to 1/4 inch horizontally under the
surface of the skin. Along the way, she lays little oval eggs,
and also leaves many tiny