Scabies is another disorder which is an infection with an animal parasite. While of much the same appearance as lice, the organisms are scarcely visible to the naked eye. They burrow around within the top layer of the skin and produce itching as they move. The itching is worse at night after the body has become warm in bed. There is sometimes considerable itching during the day, however, when the body has become warm from exertion or from an overheated room or the wearing of excessive clothing. Usually there are hundreds or thousands of the parasites on the body before the afflicted individual is aware of the fact that he has a skin disease. If one member of a family is affected, the whole family is likely to be.
The disorder is usually contracted through occupying a bed with an infected individual. The parts affected are the trunk and extremities, including the hands, there being no sign of the disorder above the collar line or below the ankles except in infants.
The most typical lesions (sores) are seen between the fingers and on the wrists. They appear as small pimples and blisters, on the surface of some of which are seen delicate, black, thread-like, straight or curved lines from an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch long. Each line is the path of a parasite in the skin, and it is a furrow filled with dirt, eggs, and excrement of the organism. There are a dozen or more eggs in each furrow, and at one end of it is the parasite. The eggs give rise to new parasites, which crawl out of the surface of the skin. Here the females, which are the only ones that burrow, are fertilized, the males remaining on the surface of the skin. The female perishes after burrowing and laying her eggs. On the regions other than the hands, wrists, genitals, and buttocks, the lesions occur chiefly as scratch marks the size of a pinhead, which can hardly be recognized as lesions of scabies, at least without microscopic examination.
Treatment of scabies consists in applying a sulphur salve for five successive nights. After taking a scrub bath, the affected individual should apply the salve from the neck to the ankles, including the hands. A suit of underwear with long sleeves and legs should be worn continuously, night and day, it becoming permeated with the sulphur, and thin cotton gloves should be worn at night. On the morning following the fifth application of the salve, a cleansing bath is taken and clean clothing put on. Some itching may persist, but it is due to irritation of the skin by the sulphur and should be allayed by a few daily applications of olive oil.
Scabies may be passed on from one child to another by direct contact. Hence, the teacher must recognize this disease and prevent contact between the infected child and others.
by Clark W. Finnerud
Common Skin Diseases of Children
The Anatomical Structure of the Skin
