Scabies

“ But that man has chronic scabies whom the wantonness of the flesh without cease overmasters. For in scabies the violent heat of the bowels is drawn to the skin; whereby lechery is rightly designated, since, if the heart’s temptation shoots forth into action, it may be truly said that violent internal heat breaks out into scabies of the skin: and it now wounds the body outwardly, because, while sensuality is not repressed in thought, it gains the mastery also in action. ”

“ Man is infested with both internal and external parasites of the same genera or families as those infesting other mammals; in the case of scabies, he is infested with the same species of parasites. He is subject to the same law of lunar periods, in the process of gestation, and in the maturation and duration of certain diseases. His wounds are repaired by the same process of healing, and, after the amputation of his limbs, the stumps occasionally possess some power of regeneration, as in the lowest animals. ”

“ Psoroptic mange or scabies exclusively affects those portions of the body covered by the wool, and may for a long time remain unrecognised.
The parasite is visible to the naked eye, though most inspectors employ the microscope. The adult female is about 1⁄40 of an inch long and 1⁄60 of an inch broad; the male is 1⁄50 of an inch long and 1⁄80 of an inch broad. The mites are discovered more easily on a dark background, and if a portion of the wool and crusts is placed on black paper and exposed to the sun for a few minutes the parasites will generally be seen crawling about on the paper. ”

“ Three genera of Sarcoptidae, namely Sarcoptes Chorioptes and Psoroptes cause mange or scabies in mammals, the mange produced by Sarcoptes being the most serious form of the disease, because the females of the species which produces it, Sarcoptes scabiei, burrow beneath the skin and are more difficult to reach with acaricides. ”

“ Only so far as Scabies (Scab) is concerned, it would seem allowable to assume allusions to be intended to vicious living as a cause of the malady. It cannot be without a reason that for centuries this one above all other skin diseases seems to have fallen under special disrepute; and the term to have been used by poets, by Martial187 for example, to indicate that sensual indulgence had been at work. In fact, several of the earliest Writers on Venereal disease hold it to be a sort of scabies, and even at a later period there is for long frequent mention made of Venereal scars or scabs. ”

“ Scabies, or itch, is a contagious animal parasitic disease, due to the Sarcoptes scabiei, characterized by the formation of cuniculi, papules, vesicles, and pustules, followed by excoriations, crusts, and general cutaneous inflammation, and accompanied with itching. The amount of disturbance depends upon the duration of the disease and the sensitiveness of the skin. The itch mite (Acarus scabiei, Sarcoptes scabiei, or Sarcoptes hominis) through contagion finds its way upon the skin, and begins to burrow its way through the upper layers of the epidermis. ”

“ Serapion recommends us, if there is a sanguineous plethora, to bleed, and then to purge with myrobalans, colocynth, and black hellebore, and along with these the warm bath is to be used, and the liniments for removing the pruritus, containing vinegar, roses, nitre, &c. The prurigo senilis he pronounces to be incurable. Rhases and Avicenna recommend similar remedies. They treat of prurigo and scabies together, and there is no doubt of their alliance. Hence Bateman says that prurigo, when neglected, terminates in scabies. Haly Abbas says that scabies and prurigo arise from a saltish phlegm. ”

“ The parasite rarely attacks the region of the elbow, the belly, or the inside of the thigh. The disease never advances in parts covered by wool, although in breeds of sheep with thick wool, such as are found 613in Algeria and Tunis, the sarcoptic form of scabies may become generalised and attack the entire body. ”

“ Bourguignon found that under the most favorable conditions the mites of Sarcoptes scabiei equi would live for sixteen days.
The disease designated the "itch" or "scabies," in man has been known from time immemorial, but until within less than a hundred years it was almost universally attributed to malnutrition, errors of [Pg 75] diet, or "bad blood." This was in spite of the fact that the mite was known to Mouffet and that Bonomo had figured both the adult and the egg and had declared the mite the sole cause of the disease. ”

“ The true cause of the disease is the presence under the skin of the Sarcoptes scabiei var. ovis, which passes from sheep to sheep by direct contact. The animals attempt to rub against everything about them, even against their neighbours. These parasites can be transferred from the goat to the sheep, and vice versâ.
Walraff, Roloff, Delafond, Gerlach and Railliet have described cases of infection in man, but the disease is rarely more than of a temporary character.
Symptoms. This form of scabies affects the head and the parts free from wool. ”

“ But my room at the "Hôtel de la Paix" was warm, and I sat over my "Flamme Bleue" all the morning. After I had been treated with sulphur for "scabies" a couple of weeks, a hole came in my throat just like the one I had on my foot—a white hole with a black band round it, and all the flesh for about six inches beyond it a deep scarlet. One morning the boy who washed me said: "I beg your pardon, sir, but what are you being treated for?" "Scabies," said I. Said he: "Don't say I said so, sir, but show the M.O. that thing on your neck. You haven't got scabies, and this sulphur will kill you soon." ”

“ Cause.—Produced by a parasite called Cylodites Nudus, which bears a close resemblance to the parasite causing mange or scabies in the domesticated animal. Owing to the peculiar construction of their breathing organs fowls are more susceptible to parasites than animals. ”

“ Female. Ventral surface. Male.
The disease is contagious to a marked degree, and is most commonly contracted by sleeping with those affected, or by occupying a bed in which an affected person has slept. It occurs, for obvious reasons, usually among the poor, although it is now quite frequently met with among the better classes. [Pg 270]
State the diagnostic features of scabies.
The burrows, the peculiar distribution and the multiformity of the eruption, the progressive development, and usually a history of contagion.
How do vesicular and pustular eczema differ from scabies? ”

“ In scabies the hands are almost invariably the parts first and most markedly involved. The characters of the lesions are also different.
The disease yields rapidly to proper treatment. Various remedies are employed for the destruction of the parasite and its ova. The most common, and one that is thoroughly efficient, is sulphur. It is usually prescribed in ointment, one to four drachms to the ounce. In irritable skins, or where the secondary dermatitis is marked, the weaker proportions are advisable. ”

“ Symptoms. Psoroptic mange attacks the parts covered with wool, so that attention is only drawn to the disease by some slight injury to the fleece, which becomes rough, matted, brittle, and liable to fall.
Scabies commences with intense pruritus. The animals scratch and bite themselves, and tear away the fleece. These symptoms become aggravated when the animals are hot, as, for instance, when travelling. If the sheep have travelled through mud, the fleece becomes matted on the neck, behind the shoulders, and at all points where they are able to scratch themselves with the hind limbs. ”

“ Also give one grain of Pulv. Gentian Root and one grain of
Bicarbonate of Soda, twice daily in feed.
MANGE
(Scabies of the Body)
CAUSE: Due to a parasite that resembles the mite.
SYMPTOMS: When the affected bird is closely examined large quantities of
scales or scabs are found in the soft feathers. The appetite is poor;
the bird walks slowly about showing signs of uneasiness. If the disease
is allowed to run its course, the bird grows weak and eventually dies.
The disease is easily transmitted from one bird to another and should be
treated without delay. ”

“ At one door we could not help observing that worst form of scabies, the gale à grosses bulles; so we had got, it appeared, from Scylla into Charybdis, and were in the very preserves 024of Sicilian itch, and we prognosticate it will spread before the month expires wherever human skin is to be found for its entertainment. Partenico lies in a scorching plain full of malaria. ”

“ These small rodents are frequently infected with scabies, but if freely provided with clean straw will clean themselves by rubbing through it. The mouse is also attacked by favus, and the rat is often infected with Trypanosoma Lewisi. ”

“ The male is smaller than the female, and in the adult condition the two hindmost legs have suckers, as well as the four anterior. It remains on the surface of the skin, while the female burrows deeply in the substance of the epidermis. At the bottom of the oblique burrow it deposits ten to fifteen or more eggs, which hatch in a fortnight and then commence similar operations on their own account. Scabies generally starts between the fingers, whence it rapidly spreads. The disease is acquired from some patient suffering from the disease, or by contact with his apparel. ”

“ Artificial cuds are of no value and frequently are a detriment to the
animal. Other symptoms aside from those of the animal not chewing cud
will always make their appearance, as constipation, diarrhoea, elevation
of the temperature, etc. The animal should be thoroughly examined and
the disease treated under its special heading.
MANGE
(Scabies)
CAUSE: There are four different parasites which produce Mange or Scabies
in cattle. However, three of these parasites are rarely seen. The
Symbotis Communis is the parasite commonly seen in American cattle. ”

“ John O'Neil describes under this name a pustular affection which he says is common in certain parts of the West Coast, and which he found to be associated with the presence of a filariform parasite in the papules. O'Neil says that this form of craw-craw resembles scabies; but he adds that symptoms subside in a cooler climate, to return, however, when the negro revisits the hot and damp atmosphere of his native country. The papules occur all over the limbs and body, either singly or in rings. In two days from its appearance the papule, he says, becomes a vesicle, and in two more a pustule. ”

“ Octavius Horatianus, who lived under the emperor Valentinian, gives a pretty full detail of the treatment, but his description of [8] the symptoms is defective. He makes mention, however, of maculæ, which affect principally the face; he contends that the whole system is attacked with the disease, and that the flesh is corrupted. His remedies are much the same as those recommended by the other authorities, namely, bleeding, purging, vomiting, the theriac of vipers, and rubbing with the usual applications for scabies. ”

“ They may occasionally obstruct the excretory gland ducts, thus causing inflammation of the gland (comedones) ; their agglomeration in the meibomian glands sets up inflammation of the margins of the eyelids. There are generally only a few specimens in a gland. According to some statements Demodex occurs in 50 per cent. of mankind and even in children; they survive the death of their hosts by several days.
The variety living in the dog (D. folliculorum var. canis) is smaller than the variety living in man, and produces a skin disease resembling scabies in these animals. ”

“ The eruptions due to scratching have already been described in the descriptions of the ‘scratched skin,’ and comprise excoriations, erythema in parallel lines, eczema, impetiginous or so-called ecthymatous eruptions and wheals, and the inflammatory scab-topped papules often left after the subsidence of the wheals—especially in children. In carmen, cobblers, tailors, and others who sit on hard boards for hours together, pustular and scabbed eruptions, situated over the ischial tuberosities, are so abundant and constant as to be practically diagnostic of scabies in such people. ”

“ Rubies, 94 Ruskin, 57 Russell, Mr., 39 Sarcophaga carnaria, 80 Sarcoptes, 104 Sarcoptes scabiei, 106 Sarts, 16, 17 Savigny, 149, 152 Scabies, 107 Sharp, Dr. David, 88 South African War, 11, 19 Spirochaete, 31; S. obermeieri, 31 Spirochaetosis, conveyed by A. persicus, 114 Stable-yards, 59 Stag-beetle, 39 Sulphur, 33; bags, 18; flowers of, 18 Sweat-glands, 94 Talmud, 150 ‘Tampan,’ 114, 116 Tennant, Mr., 159 Ticks, characteristics of, 112, 113, 117; breeding habits, 119; habits, 114, 115 Tomkins, Dr. H. H., 18 Trichinella, 53 Trombidium (harvest-mite) , 95 ”

“ It is best, therefore, to accept one single species (S. scabiei) , which may give rise to different races or castes by living in the skin of man and mammals, but can pass from one host to the other.
[Canestrini and Kramer, in their monograph of the Sarcoptidæ, enumerate eighteen distinct species of this genus, from the dog, goat, camel, horse, ferret, lion, wolf, sheep, pig, etc., and two species parasites of man (scabiei and scabiei-crustosæ) . There is no doubt that they are distinct species.—F. V. T.] ”

“ Fig. 37.—One of the legs of Sarcoptes scabiei (× about 450) , showing the stalked sucker and the curious ‘cross-gartering.’ (After Bourguignon.)
The male measures 200 μ to 235 μ in length, by 145 μ to 190 μ in breadth. By preference, he lives under the scales which the presence of the parasite produce [103] on the human host. The female is markedly larger than the male, measuring 330 μ to 450 μ in length by 250 μ to 350 μ in breadth. Her two anterior legs end in stalked suckers, whilst the two posterior end in hairs. ”