In the world, 300 million cases of scabies are annually registered, that is, this disease occurs in at least 5% of the world's population.. Most often it affects young people. Mature people, like children, rarely get scabies..

Our expert is a dermatologist Irina Morozova.

Doctors tried to fight scabies in ancient times. True, then she was mistakenly considered a skin sore, not suspecting that a microscopic mite was to blame..

The lot of the poor?

Fertility of these parasites is highest in September - October.. Therefore, the peak incidence occurs in autumn and winter.. However, you can get infected in any season..

Like head lice, scabies isn't just found in slums. The thing is that it is very easy to get infected with it: a tick is easy to pick up not only through clothes, a towel or a washcloth of the sick person, but also through his personal belongings (a pen, for example). Babies can even get infected through stuffed toys.. But the easiest way to catch this disease is through sexual intercourse or through bedding.. This is why young people are more prone to scabies, which, although not a sexually transmitted disease, still has a rather dubious reputation..

No time for sleep tonight The main symptom of the disease is a terrible itchy skin.. If lice drink our blood, then itch mites feed on the skin, gnawing their moves in it.. Moreover, these insects work only in the evening shift, and during the day they rest - that is why the most severe pruritus prevails in patients precisely at the late time of the day.. The itching that appears is nothing more than an allergy to the presence of a tick and its waste products inside the human skin.

It takes a whole month from the moment of infection to the appearance of signs of the disease.. Typical signs of the disease are small blisters and scratches all over the body (the so-called scabies are gray grooves on the skin up to 1 cm long). It itches most of all between the fingers, on the sides of the body, on the inner surfaces of the arms and legs, in women, itching often occurs on the mammary glands, in men - on the genitals. However, in recent years, an atypical course of the disease has been increasingly observed.. For example, there is scabies without scabies (it occurs when the skin is affected not by adult mites, but by their larvae), and even scabies without itching occurs. The so-called scabies of cleanliness are ill people who often wash - they remove most of the ticks from the skin, so their itching is not very pronounced.

Called for identification For a diagnosis, you should go to a dermatologist. You should not start treatment yourself, since scabies can be confused with other diseases, for example, with dermatitis, urticaria, shingles, pyoderma, eczema. Therefore, the first stage is diagnostics. To do this, the doctor, using a thin needle, isolates a tick from the itch course and examines it under a microscope.. And only after the identification of the parasite and the result of a special scraping from the scabby course, treatment can be prescribed.

Previously, scabies was treated with sulfur preparations, which had to be rubbed into the skin for at least 5 days. The smell was still the same. And to wash off the entire period of treatment - no, no. In addition, these drugs often caused skin irritation.. Therefore, those who were " Everything has become much easier today. Now more convenient and harmless means are used - acaricides (scabicides). With their help, the treatment is accelerated up to 1-3 days. But they should be used with caution (especially in children) - they are still toxic. In general, self-treatment of scabies is not always effective, since various forms of this disease often require the use of additional drugs.. Therefore, only a dermatologist should prescribe treatment..

Undergo disinfection Before applying the medicinal ointment, you need to take a hot shower with soap - to wash off everything that the tick has managed to inherit and prepare the skin for applying the drug. While the treatment lasts, you can wash at least every day, but provided that the medicine was on the skin for at least 12 hours before washing.. The course of treatment must be completed completely, and then after 3 days a follow-up examination must be done. After 2 weeks, it is necessary to come again for an examination to make sure that everything is fine. Itching, by the way, can persist for several weeks after recovery - this is normal..

It is better for all family members to be treated too, just in case.. Every day it is necessary to do wet cleaning of the entire room, including wiping all kinds of surfaces with 1-2% soda? soapy water. And then it remains to carry out a complete disinfection of the housing with a special aerosol. All linen will have to be boiled, and furniture and things that cannot be washed should be taken to the balcony and held there for several days (preferably in the sun).

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