Scabies: Night-Time Itching, How It Spreads and Treating the Whole Family

Scabies is a contagious condition caused by a microscopic mite that lives in the skin. Its main sign is intense itching that gets worse at night. Scabies is not about poor hygiene — it spreads through close skin contact and often appears in the whole family at once. With the right treatment it clears completely.

How does scabies spread?

The mite passes from person to person mainly through prolonged close skin contact:

• between family members and people who share a bed;
• in nurseries, boarding schools, dormitories and barracks;
• through sexual contact.

Spread through clothing, bedding and towels is less common but possible. People do not catch scabies from pets.

Signs of scabies

• itching that gets worse at night — often in several family members;
• small red bumps and blisters;
• burrows — thin greyish lines in the skin;
• scratch marks and crusts.

The rash usually affects the spaces between the fingers, wrists, elbows, waist and belly, armpits, buttocks, genitals and the skin around the nipples. In babies the palms, soles, face and scalp can be affected too.

After a first infection the itching starts 2–6 weeks later — and during that time the person can infect others.

Diagnosis

A dermatologist examines the rash and uses a dermatoscope to find burrows and the mite. When needed, a scraping is examined under the microscope. Scabies has to be told apart from eczema, allergy, fungal infection and other causes of itching — they are treated completely differently.

How is scabies treated?

• An anti-scabies treatment prescribed by the doctor. It is usually applied to all the skin from the neck down, including between the fingers and under the nails; in babies the head and face too. It is often repeated after a week.
• Everyone in the household is treated on the same day — including those without symptoms. Otherwise the mite keeps passing back and forth.
• Clothes and bedding — washed at 60 °C and ironed on the day of treatment; anything that cannot be washed goes into a sealed bag for 3 days.

Important: itching can last 2–4 weeks even after successful treatment — this is the skin recovering, not treatment failure. Do not keep reapplying the product on your own: it irritates the skin. Your doctor will advise separately on easing the itch.

Scabies in children

Children can bring scabies home from nursery or school. The product and dose for a child are chosen only by a doctor. Usually a child can go back to nursery or school the day after treatment starts — the doctor will confirm.

Scabies treatment in Fergana and Kokand

At Radeski Skin Clinic a dermatovenereologist finds the cause of the itch, performs dermoscopy and a scraping, and builds a treatment plan for the patient and the family. Children are seen by a paediatric dermatologist.

• Itchy skin — in brief;
• Dermatologist in Fergana and in Kokand.

If several family members itch at night, do not start treating yourselves — come to the dermatologist together, so scabies is treated once and for good.