holy moly - scabies

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

I have four boys, ages from 15 to 1. The oldest went on a summer camp in August and has had a red itchy rash for five weeks now. First GP said an allergy, second said eczema and then sent us to a dermatologist who said he has bloody scabies and we are to treat the whole family (lotoion for the baby, pills for the rest of us) and wash EVERYTHING as ds 2 also has a rash now.

I am on my 12th wash since yesterday pm and there is no end to it. Clothes, sheets, duvets and pillows, coats and gloves and scarves etc etc etc.

Has anyone else had this?

Help

[ZZZenAgain]

how could that happen?

Sorry no experience of it, hope things clear up soon

[Geocentric]

Poor DS... Sounds horrid (and itchy).

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

I have just managed to stuff (and wash) a double duvet in the machine (5kg Miele) - and the frigging washing pile does not look any smaller. I am tempted to take the rest to the laundrette and get it over in one foul swoop, but the idea of ds4 in a laundrette is - how would I keep him happy for an hour and a half?

[ZZZenAgain]

IME they do like looking at a machine wth the washing going round and round. I think it's you who will be more bored tbh

[ZZZenAgain]

You haveto change the bedclothes every day too, don't you? What a pain.

[BratleyEatsBrainsForBreakfast]

I had the same experience.

DH is a squaddie, he went away on exercise, came back with scabies.
I went to the dr when I started getting really itchy hands and feet (before we knew DH had scabies) and was told it was an allergic reaction, took 3weeks of arguing with them that it hadn't gone away when DH was told by med officer thats what it was.
I took great pleasure in going back to my GP and telling him he was wrong! Think he took pleasure in prescribing derbac for it though, the most horrid smelling stuff I've ever had to cover myself top-to-toe in!

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

I will change everything - sheets, towels and clothes for ds1 and ds2 till the end of the week. Unless nayone else starts itching.

Nightmare.

Has anyone got any positive scabies stories (as in cleared up first itme and no one else got it etc)

[Time2Hibernate]

oooooo (instant scratch just thinking about it).......

I managed to pick up scabies years ago whilst working with a group of young persons whose hygiene etc left a lot to be desired.

It is hugely contagious and you need to wash everything on as hot a wash as possible and hot iron everything too.

I had to go back for a second bottle of lotion as the first failed to kill off all the eggs they lay under the skin and had to repeat the washing / ironing process all over again.

I'd be inclined to take it to a laundrette. Put it all in with gloves on and then ask if someone would do a service wash for the second half: drying element.

Having been there and HATED it, I can only imagine how you feel right now.

The good news is that if you smother everything in the lotion, leaving it on for the right amount of time, it does do the trick. AND when forced to clean and wash everything your house will look spick and span!!!

Good luck

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

Bratley - did you have childern and did you have to treat them?

Did it go first time? Did you have to wash EVERYTHING. Have just put 14th load on.

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

I am washing at 40° with nappisan in final rinse and vinegar in with the powder. Then tumbling the hell out of it all. What do you think?

[alypaly]

Main article: Sarcoptes scabiei

Sarcoptes scabiei var. canis (dog scabies mite)Scabies is highly contagious and can be spread by scratching, picking up the mites under the fingernails and simply touching another person's skin. They can also be spread onto other objects like keyboards, toilets, clothing, towels, bedding, furniture, and anything else that the mite may be rubbed off onto, especially if a person is heavily infested. The parasite can survive up to 14 days away from a host, but often do not survive longer than two or three days away from human skin.[3] Scabies is caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, variety hominis, as shown by the Italian biologist Diacinto Cestoni in the 18th century. It produces intense, itchy skin rashes when the impregnated female tunnels into the stratum corneum of the skin and deposits eggs in the burrow. The larvae, which hatch in 3?10 days, move about on the skin, molt into a "nymphal" stage, and then mature into adult mites. The adult mites live 3?4 weeks in the host's skin.

The action of the mites moving within the skin and on the skin itself produces an intense itch which may resemble an allergic reaction in appearance. The presence of the eggs produces a massive allergic response which, in turn, produces more itching.

Scabies can be transmitted readily throughout an entire household, by skin-to-skin contact with an infected person (e.g. bed partners, schoolmates, daycare). It can be spread by clothing, bedding, or towels. Washing clothing in very hot water and dry on high heat will help prevent the transmission. Alternatively, permethrin sprays can be used for items that cannot be laundered.

The symptoms of itching and rash are caused by an allergic reaction that the human body develops over time to the mites and their by-products under the skin. As such, there is usually a 2-6 week incubation period between infestation and presentation of symptoms. However, in individuals with prior exposure to scabies, the incubation period is much shorter: as little as 1?4 days.[4]

There are usually relatively few mites on a normal, healthy person (who is infested with scabies) ? about 11 females in burrows. Scabies are microscopic although sometimes they are visible as a pinpoint of white. The females burrow into the skin and lay eggs there. Males roam on top of the skin, although can also occasionally burrow.

Benzoyl benzoate or ascabiol; lotion is brilliant. My mum caught it in a nursing home. You can normally see the mites tracvks in the finger webs...but it is intensly itchy.

The other treatment is lyclear cream or permethrin cream..

[Time2Hibernate]

You can only do your best.

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

I am doing clothes at 40° and all bedding etc at 70°. or 90°.

Thanks for that alypaly - I hadn't thought of the computer keyboard.

[ZZZenAgain]

I think you might haveto wash at 60.

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

[alypaly]

one treatment with benzoyl benzoate was enough to sort out my mum and we had to use it too...because we held her hans in the nursing home. You only have to be in a brief one minute conatc to pick it up.
If you order it from the chemist it comes in a huge bottle

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

It is not the treatment that is the hassle, tbh. It is all the washing and scrubbing. The house was already clean and tidy and all the bedlinen and clothes were clean - I had just one basket load to do when ds was diagnosed. It has been criminal to take everything out and rewash and treat and scrub. I did all the lotions and pills last night. I have even zapped the car. I now can't see the laundry room floor. I have gone back up to 60° and reckon I will be finished washing (not drying) around midnight if it runs non stop.

[alypaly]

what pills are they,didnt know they did pills for scabies....

it makes you feel really dirty doesnt it?

[BratleyEatsBrainsForBreakfast]

No scratchnwash, I didnt have kids at the time, just the big kid! (DH)

I didn't scrub everything, just used the solution as directed, hot washed my bedding and towels, washed all the clothes again that I'd worn since catching them and washed clothes as soon as I took them off every night after that.

Didn't do a mad clean and disinfect as we were told they didn't live for long outside of the body.

Never had a problem after we'd got rid of them with the solution so must have done something right! Was really worried the solution wouldnt work as it seemed too simple!

[alypaly]

. The parasite can survive up to 14 days away from a host, but often do not survive longer than two or three days away from human skin. shouldnt have to do much more washing...poor you..poor washing machine

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

Wash number 16!

[scratchnwashnwashnwash]

DS1 has stopped scratching.

Ds 2 is still scratching

I have done 27 loads of washing in two days



If it comes back I am going to spray the kids and the dog with lindane and then bomb the house.

[BratleyEatsBrainsForBreakfast]

lol, the cries of a worn out, over worked scabies hunter!

[Tabsycats]

Scabies can lead to horrific skin allergies. The spots continue after treatment because they are an allergy to the mites, faecal matter and eggs.cthey can itch and be painful for months after successful treatment. The symptoms of an adverse reaction to die back can be pure he'll. Huge, prickly, stinging, angry red big patches can cover the whole body and feel like you are wrapped on stinging nettles. The treatment is anti histamines, steroid cream and steroid tablets. The pain can be indescribable. This reaction can be kicked off by the treatment cream so better to take the invermectin pills.