Difference Between Scabies & Bed Bugs

While scabies and bedbugs both cause itchy, irritated skin, they are two distinct species of insect. Confusion over the difference between the two insects may arise from the fact that itchy sensations from scabies often occur while the infected person is laying in bed.

Bedbugs

• Bedbugs, or Cimex lectularius, live in the cracks and crevices of bedding. Their eggs are white and the size of a dust speck. Newly hatched bedbugs are called nymphs and are straw-colored. The adults are reddish-brown, teardrop-shaped and grow to 4 to 5 mm long.

Scabies

• Scabies, or Sarcoptes scabiei, are tiny (.3 mm) eight-legged mites that burrow in the skin of their hosts. The mites live for 24 to 36 hours, are spread through skin-to-skin contact and deposit eggs in your skin.

Symptoms of Bedbugs

• Reactions to bedbug bites vary, although the bites usually leave small red dots on the skin, alone or in a cluster, and can resemble mosquito bites.

Symptoms of Scabies

• Scabies burrow in the skin and leave clusters of bumps, especially in the folds of the skin (i.e., in between fingers and behind elbows and knees). After several weeks of infestation, itching increases in intensity, sometimes preventing sleep or awakening the sufferer.

Diagnosis of Bedbugs

• To determine presence of bedbugs, examine bedding and other crevices of the bedroom at night for the insects themselves, their shed exoskeletons or their small, black feces.

Diagnosis of Scabies

• If no bedbugs are observed in your sleeping area, examine the skin irritation you are experiencing. The location of the irritations in the folds of your skin is an indicator of scabies, as well as increasing itchiness. A proper diagnosis must be performed via scraping and microscopic analysis by a medical professional.