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REVIEW PAPER
Scabies: Clinical manifestations and diagnosis
1
Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland
Submission date: 2014-11-12
Acceptance date: 2015-04-01
Online publication date: 2015-04-22
Publication date: 2020-03-24
Corresponding author
Joanna Korycińska
Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn Żołnierska 14C/ 14, 10-561 Olsztyn, Poland. Tel.: +48 89 524 61 16; fax: +48 89 524 61 16.
Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn Żołnierska 14C/ 14, 10-561 Olsztyn, Poland. Tel.: +48 89 524 61 16; fax: +48 89 524 61 16.
Pol. Ann. Med. 2015;22(1):63-66
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Scabies is an infectious disease caused by an obligate parasite of human skin – Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. The disease affects people regardless of their age, sex or socioeconomic status. The transmission occurs mainly through direct contact with an infected person as well as personal items including clothes, bedclothes, etc.
Aim:
The aim of the paper is to present a variety of clinical manifestations of scabies as well as diagnostic methods used.
Discussion:
The diagnosis of scabies can often times be difficult, especially if there are concurrent diseases, with pruritus being a symptom. The skin lesions may vary in appearance, depending on the local and general immune response. The diagnosis rests on finding characteristic signs of the disease accompanied by the pruritus becoming particularly intense at night. The use of various diagnostic tools allows for confirmation of the diagnosis, with varied sensitivity and specificity, which is based on confirmation of the presence of the parasite.
Conclusions:
Scabies still remains a major public health problem worldwide. Research is hindered mainly due to difficulty in obtaining the material from infested people as well as a lack of an in vitro system. To date, there is no diagnostic method for detecting scabies infection, which would give a 100% reliable result. Each of the methods mentioned above has some limitations in use. It seems that the sensitivity of those methods will vary, depending on a patient's clinical features.
Scabies is an infectious disease caused by an obligate parasite of human skin – Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. The disease affects people regardless of their age, sex or socioeconomic status. The transmission occurs mainly through direct contact with an infected person as well as personal items including clothes, bedclothes, etc.
Aim:
The aim of the paper is to present a variety of clinical manifestations of scabies as well as diagnostic methods used.
Discussion:
The diagnosis of scabies can often times be difficult, especially if there are concurrent diseases, with pruritus being a symptom. The skin lesions may vary in appearance, depending on the local and general immune response. The diagnosis rests on finding characteristic signs of the disease accompanied by the pruritus becoming particularly intense at night. The use of various diagnostic tools allows for confirmation of the diagnosis, with varied sensitivity and specificity, which is based on confirmation of the presence of the parasite.
Conclusions:
Scabies still remains a major public health problem worldwide. Research is hindered mainly due to difficulty in obtaining the material from infested people as well as a lack of an in vitro system. To date, there is no diagnostic method for detecting scabies infection, which would give a 100% reliable result. Each of the methods mentioned above has some limitations in use. It seems that the sensitivity of those methods will vary, depending on a patient's clinical features.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None declared.
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