Causes and Risk Factors of Scabies

Scabies is contagious, and it’s usually spread by having direct, prolonged skin-to-skin contact with an affected person. The exposure generally has to be sustained: As the CDC notes, a handshake or hug typically doesn’t spread the mites, but holding hands for 5 or 10 minutes can. (The exception is crusted scabies, where even very brief contact with an infested person can transmit the mites.) In adults, scabies is often spread through sexual encounters. (1) And it’s easily spread within households.

While the mites live for one to two months on human skin, they can survive for up to four days in inanimate objects such as bedsheets, clothing, and towels. Less commonly, scabies can occur through contact with an infested item. This kind of indirect infection more frequently occurs in people who have crusted scabies.

Scabies are not spread to people from pets. Pets can become infested with animal mites, and these can be passed along to humans. But animal mites can’t reproduce on a person, and even if they get under a person’s skin, they’ll die within a couple of days. It’s important to treat your pets, though, if they acquire mites.

According to the CDC, getting scabies from swimming in a pool is “extremely unlikely.” In most cases of scabies, excluding crusted scabies, an infested person has only 10 to 15 mites on their body, and the chances that a mite would emerge from beneath wet skin are very low. (1) Still, although uncommon, you could spread scabies by sharing a towel with an infested person.

How Is Scabies Diagnosed?

If you suspect you have scabies, you must get checked out by a healthcare provider in order to treat the condition properly and avoid spreading it. A doctor will perform a visual exam to look for the scabies rash on your body and for burrows. Reactions to certain drugs can mimic a scabies rash, (1) and other conditions can produce skin reactions that look similar. To be sure it’s scabies, your doctor may want to confirm the presence of a mite, its eggs, or its fecal matter. This can be done by taking a scraping of skin to examine under a microscope, or by using a needle to extract a mite from its burrow.

Prognosis of Scabies

With proper treatment that kills the mites, scabies goes away. Still, it’s a contagious infection and can be contracted again.