Itch and scratch: scabies and pediculosis

Scabies and lice infestations are almost an everyday diagnosis in the dermatology clinics. Along with the unbearable itch, resistance to medication, secondary infection, and the high risk for spreading the parasite to their close contacts, the patients have also to battle with many myths, prejudice, and shames connected to those infestations

Section snippets

History: Scabies has afflicted human societies for at least 2500 years.¹ Scabies was recognized in ancient times, and the mite itself has been referred to in clinical texts as early as the 12th century. Sarcoptes scabiei plays an important role in the history of medicine because it is the first organism to be specially identified as the causative agent of a clinical condition. In 1687, Giovani Cosimo Bonomo wrote a letter to his mentor Francesco Redi, describing the story of the discovery of this link,....

History: Pediculosis has been known for more than 10,000 years. The oldest eggs were found in excavations at the Judean desert in Israel that are dated from 6300 to 9000 bc.49 A louse egg was discovered attached to a hair of a pregnant woman buried under the ashes of Herculaneum (79 ad).50

During World War I, epidemic typhus and trench fever caused huge epidemics of louse-borne diseases. The diseases spread rapidly because of poor sanitation and lack of availability of pediculocides.51 It is estimated