The Relevance of Personal hygiene and Scabies
The microscopic parasite mites that produce the affliction called scabies, which is a very contagious skin condition, are the Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. There are many types of parasite mites that can affect the skin of any being but the Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis is the only one that can complete its life cycle on human skin. All the others live on animal skin and can affect for a while the human skin too but they are unable to complete their life cycle on humans.
The parasitic mites feed on human blood and through their bites infect the human skin by releasing toxic substances. The symptoms of scabies are usually the consequences of the allergic reactions of the skin to those toxic substances released by the mites through saliva, feces and eggs. The inflammations, the itches and the rashes are caused by the burrows of the mites under the skin. If this affliction is left untreated it can worsen the symptoms (skin lesions and ulcerations, formation of crust, painful nodules, blisters and pustules) and lead, as an effect to other bacterial and fungal infections, to more severe skin disorders like impetigo.
The incidence of scabies is higher in the lower classes of the society but is wrong to believe that this would be an effect of poor hygiene and unhealthy lifestyle. The level of personal hygiene is not relevant to the incidence of scabies. Those two elements are not related. In the best case, a very good personal hygiene can only delay for a little the infestation or the development of the scabies mites and symptoms. Many erroneous conceptions and unfunded ideas were given on this account.
The scabies, due to its highly contagious nature, is very easily transmitted from one person to another through direct physical contact. So the connection between the lower classes of the society and the higher incidence of scabies would be the fact that those less developed urban societies are overcrowded, making this way the spreading of this affliction easier.
The epidemics of scabies are at higher incidence in overcrowded facilities like schools, kindergartens, hospitals and orphanages. In those environments, if an epidemic of scabies bursts, it is best for everyone to follow a treatment even if the signs of the affliction did not appear and it is possible for the person not to be contaminated.
The mites that produce the scabies affliction can live for several days without a human host. In this period they hide in clothes, towels, bed linens and other personal objects, so doctors recommend washing with hot water all the items that may have been contaminated in order to avoid the infestation or re-infestation, even though the indirect contamination is rare.
During the medical treatment for scabies, the contagious nature of the affliction is kept so it is best for people infested by these parasites not to establish close physical contact with other people to avoid spreading the disease. After the treatment, the symptoms may continue showing for a while but if this period is too long, then it is possible that the person to have been re-infested. In this case it is required another thorough medical investigation and if the doctor finds new signs of mites infestation, then the treatment must be repeated.