Diacinto Cestoni, an Italian biologist from the 18th century, first brought to light the cause of scabies, known now as the sarcoptes scabiei, a mite of annoying capabilities. These scab mites, as adults, have eight legs like a spider, and are grouped together phylogenteically with ticks and spiders.

They are microscopic in nature, but sometimes can be spotted with the naked eye as white pinpoints on the skin. What happens is pregnant mites dig into the top layer of skin and lay their eggs in these tunnels. Within three to ten days, those eggs hatch. The young ones venture out on their own. Their little wriggling around movements are what cause the severe itching sufferers experience. They do this until they molt, or shed their skin and move into a stage of life where they are called nymphs. From there they become adults. These adults then live for three weeks to a month under our skin. The "men" scab mites travel topside, digging into the skin every so often. It is not uncommon to find up to eleven female scab mites on an infected person.

The bad news is that a scabies infection is contagious, spread by scratching the infection and bringing up handfuls of scab mites under your fingernails. Another way is by coming into physical contact with an infected person for more than just a few minutes. If this contact from skin to skin goes on long enough, the scabies infestation will transfer from one person to the other.

There are other ways to become infection. Lie in a bed whose linen is infested, or wear clothes that are, or sit on furniture that contain scab mites. These aren't normal ways to contract a scabies infection, but they've been known to happen. A scab mite can live outside of a human "home" for up to a day and a half. Similar to lice, scabies can be shared through sexual intercourse, even if condoms are used. The reason why is because the transmission of the infection is by skin contact, not necessarily by the genitalia.

Older people and those suffering from HIV, cancer or even recent transplant patients who are using immunosuppressive drugs, are more likely to contract what used to be called Norwegian scabies, but are lately known as crusted scabies. With these sufferers, we see rashes that are scaly, very little itching, and great crusty layers of skin (hence the name) that are home to many thousands of scab mites. This makes curing this infection a little bit hard, because the crusty skin keeps pesticides and topical miticides from doing their job. So treatment of crusted scabies will take a bit longer than usual treatments.

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