2,3 Scabies, an infestation by the itch or scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis, remains a major public health problem worldwide and a common cause of PUO selleck screening library in returning travelers. 3,4 The worldwide prevalence of scabies has been estimated to be about 300 million cases/y. 4 Although more often associated with crowding, homelessness, institutionalization, and immunodeficiency, scabies occurs worldwide in both sexes, at all ages, and among all ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Scabies mites cannot jump or fly, but can crawl at a rate of 2.5 cm/min on warm, moist skin. 1,4 They

can survive in the natural environment for 24 to 36 hours at

room temperature and at average humidity, and remain capable of infesting humans. 5 Scabies is most easily transmitted by close skin-to-skin contact, such as between sex partners. The more the mites on a human host, the greater the risks of transmission by close direct contact, more so than by indirect contact with fomites, such as shared bedding and clothing. 4 Scabies mites have not been demonstrated to transmit HIV, HTLV-1, or any other infectious agent. 4 The human scabies mite is an obligate ectoparasite and must complete its entire life cycle on its human hosts, as females burrow intradermally to lay eggs

and larvae emerge and mature to reinfest the same or new hosts. Female Ion Channel Ligand Library mites burrow preferentially into thinner areas of the epidermis by dissolving the stratum corneum with proteolytic secretions to penetrate to the stratum granulosum. Female mites then lay their eggs at the end of tunneled burrows 5 to 10 mm long, and larvae hatch 2 to 3 days after eggs are laid. The entire incubation period from eggs to full grown mites lasts about 14 to 15 days. 6 The human incubation period Succinyl-CoA from initial infestation to symptom development is 3 to 6 weeks in initial infestations and as short as 1 to 3 days in reinfestations as a result of prior sensitization to mite antigens. 4 Classical or typical scabies presents as generalized, intense nocturnal itching in a characteristic topographical distribution because 10 to 15 fertile female mites are transferred from infected patients to new hosts. The more significant, intensely pruritic skin eruptions in reinfestations and atypical scabies are considered as consequences of both anamnestic hypersensitivity reactions to mite antigens and self-inflicted scratching.