Drug Abuse and Alcoholism: Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Scabies - Outpatient Program

During your participation in the Outpatient Addiction Treatment program at The Right Step, you will have the opportunity in Session Eleven to become familiarized with the symptoms of Scabies on men and women.

Experienced, licensed instructors will discuss the topic of STIs and present a large amount of detailed information regarding a variety of these sexually transmitted diseases.  At this point in your treatment for drugs and/or alcohol, you will be learning about scabies.

Scabies is caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, variety hominis, as shown by the Italian biologists Diacinto Cestoni in the 18th century. It produces intense, itchy skin rashes when the impregnated female tunnels into the stratum corneum of the skin and deposits eggs in the burrow. The larvae, which hatch in three to ten days, move about on the skin and molt into a "nymphal" stage.  They then mature into adult mites.

Learning About Scabies during Addiction Treatment

Continuing in your addiction treatment education regarding STIs, you will learn that adult mites live for three to four weeks in the host's skin. It takes approximately four to six weeks to develop symptoms after experiencing initial infestation.

An individual with scabies may have been contagious for at least a month before being diagnosed. This means that person might have passed scabies to anyone at that time with which they had close contact. Someone who sleeps in the same room with a person with scabies has a high possibility of having scabies as well, although they may not show symptoms.

Scabies is transmitted readily, often throughout an entire household, by skin-to-skin contact with an infected person (e.g. bed partners, schoolmates, daycare), and thus is sometimes, although inaccurately, classed as a sexually transmitted disease. It is also possible for scabies to be spread by clothing, bedding, or towels, although this is a less significant risk.