Since the symptoms of scabies seem superficially similar to that of eczema or hives, the only way of ensuring clear diagnosis is by taking a skin scraping for examination under a microscope to check for the presence of mites, mite eggs or mite faeces which is termed scybala - this can confirm the diagnosis.
Sometimes, the chances of a correct diagnosis goes wrong when the skin or biopsy sample is negative for mites, but the patient could be a carrier of the parasite, and could well be manifesting the symptoms of scabies.
Since the number of mites present on the body of the person could be as little as 10 – 12 mites, the diagnosis could be missed or inaccurate.
Crusted or Norwegian scabies, which is a different type of scabies, can host large colonies of mites and is highly contagious.
The onset of disease is different for a person who is infested with scabies for the first time and for that of a person who is having a subsequent relapse of the disease.
For the first time infected patient of scabies, symptoms can manifest after a long gestation period of 6 weeks, and for a person who has contracted scabies multiple times, the symptoms will appear in a few days.
