Scabies in Babies

If your baby has a red, itchy rash, he may have scabies. Each year, more and more people---including children and infants---are diagnosed with this uncomfortable disease. And if your baby has it, it's highly likely others in your family do too. Fortunately, once diagnosed, scabies is relatively easy to treat.

What is Scabies?

• Scabies is an irritation caused by a tiny parasite that burrows beneath the skin. The result is an itchy rash caused by an allergic reaction to the parasite's eggs and feces. Scabies is transmittable by touching someone who is already infected.

Symptoms

• The most common symptom of scabies is an itchy rash, typically around the wrists, between fingers, on the lower abdomen, on the genitals, in the armpits, on the kneecaps, on the sides of the feet and on the outside of the elbows. Babies may also get the rash on their soles, scalp, face or palms.

  Sometimes thin red or curvy lines appear on a baby's skin where the parasites burrow, and some babies also develop pimple- or water-blister-like pustules.

  Intense itching is common, especially at night or after a warm bath. Itching may lead to opening up the skin, which in turn may lead to infection.

Diagnosis

• When your baby has an unexplained rash, it's always a good idea to call her pediatrician. Usually your doctor will want to see the rash in person and painlessly scrape off a tiny sample to view it under a microscope. However, there may only be fecal matter and eggs in the sample, since it only takes one parasite to cause a nasty rash.

  Scabies is often misdiagnosed in infants because so many scabs (from intense itching) are present, covering up true symptoms of the disease. Therefore, at the first sign of itchiness, parents should place socks or mittens over their baby's hands and keep their baby's nails well trimmed.

Treatment

• A prescription cream must be applied to all the skin on your baby's body, including between fingers and toes and in his belly button. This must be left in place for at least a day, then washed off.

  To prevent your baby from putting a cream-covered hand in her mouth, apply the cream at night, covering her hands with socks if she tends to suck her thumb or fingers.

  Even after treatment is given, it can take as long as three weeks for the itching to disappear. Therefore, doctors usually prescribe an antihistamine (taken orally) or a cortisone cream to keep your baby comfortable. Be sure to also trim your baby's fingernails regularly to help prevent him from opening his skin while scratching.

  Your doctor should re-examine your baby after one week, to ensure a second round of treatment isn't necessary.

Other Family Members

• Unfortunately, because scabies is so easily transmitted, you and your family will probably need treatment too, even if you have no symptoms.

  To help prevent spread, wash clothes, linens and stuffed toys in boiling water and vacuum thoroughly. Toys that can't be washed can be sealed in a plastic bag for a week.