What is Scabies?
Scabies is a severely contagious burrowing mite that gets under the skin and then proceeds to lay eggs and cause severe itchiness.

How is it contracted?
Scabies is transmitted readily, often throughout an entire household, by skin-to-skin contact with an infected person (i.e. bed partners, schoolmates, daycare). Scabies will make your child's life a little more difficult due to the itching and scratching and violent outbursts that come along with said itching and scratching.

Scabies medicine.
Doctors will prescribe creams (Permethrin, Eurax, Malathion, Lindane) and foaming products that can only mask the itching for a short amount of time. As soon as you see signs of scabies on your children (itching, extreme pain, red bumps that turn clear and raise up) take care of the matter with these tips.

Scabies treatment:
* Vacuum floors, carpets, and rugs.
* Disinfect floor and bathroom surfaces by mopping.
* Clean the shower/bath tub after each use.
* Daily washing of recently worn clothes, towels and bedding in hot water and drying in a hot dryer.
* Consistently rubbing antibacterial lotion on infected areas.
* Try to keep infected areas covered by clothing or band aids.
* Hot drying pillows for 30 minutes.
* Overnight freezing, in a plastic bag: stuffed animals, brushes, combs, shoes, coats, gloves, hats, robes, wetsuits, etc.
* Quarantine in a plastic bag for two weeks: things that cannot be washed, hot dried, frozen or dry-cleaned.
* Dry-clean: things that cannot be washed, hot dried or frozen or quarantined.

Scabies rashes.
The more your child scratches the Scabies rashes, the more it will spread. Cover the infected areas to keep your child from making them worse. Protect your child from Scabies by cleaning often and thoroughly. Especially clean bedsheets, clothing, and towels. Do not share towels with people in the household to avoid the spread of Scabies.

Preventing Scabies.
Keeping a clean house, bathing regularly, and avoiding the sharing of towels will ensure that Scabies doesn't affect your children. Scabies can be treated but treating it is time consuming and costly.

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