THANK YOU
PLEASE KEEP THIS E-MAIL/PICTURES ANONYMOUS, although you can feel free to post it or sections of it.
Background:
Last Summer, I heard about whatsthatbug.com on NPR. I sent you a few pictures and read almost every page. It’s been a few months since I visited the site (sorry)…
Story: A little over a week ago, my wife (an inner-city school teacher) had to physically restrain a student involved in a fight. Her hands and fore-arms contacted his hands, forearms and shoulders for a total of several minutes. Two nights ago, she complained of bad itching on her hands and forearm. The next day it seemed to go away. But, the next afternoon, seemingly out of nowhere, she broke out in a rash of sorts all over her forearms and behind her legs. As evening approached, she said the itching had become unbearable. At first, we thought it was an allergic reaction to a new soap she had recently bought, so we were going to buy some benadryl and leave it at that. THEN I remembered a story from whatsthatbug.com about scabies. The night time itching-increase was my memory trigger. We went to an urgent care facility and, with no prompting from us, the doctor declared that she had scabies! Our best guess about contact is the student, as we have traveled nowhere in years, and not shared any clothing with others. She and I have been prescribed the 12 hour cream, and I am currently in my 9th hour of treatment (I was treated because I share her bed and have had skin contact). We also have to wash all of our clothes and linens in hot water and we left our pillows outside overnight in 15 degree weather, because freezing often kills them, too. I’d like to thank you for posting the story about scabies on your site, because we might have waited another day or so without getting treatment if I hadn’t read it! By then, who knows how much worse it would have gotten for everybody in our family! Attached are pictures of her "rash", although the fact that she scratched them up makes it a bit harder to identify as a typical scabies rash (so says the doctor). Still thought it might make a nice addition to the page.
AGAIN, PLEASE KEEP ANONYMOUS.

Dear Anonymous,
Teaching in the school system, be it public or private, elementary or college level, is often similar to living in a Petrie Dish. Though we sympathize with your situation, we are happy to hear our site was helpful. We hope you both stop itching soon.

1   I like This

Related posts:

Scabies Tampon Infestation LA Times features Los Angeles public school Mite Infestation

Dear Bug Man,
I received the following letter and thought it might make an interesting addition to your American Homebody column, “What’s That Bug?” It’s from my cousin Kaya Adams, who is currently residing in Kigali, Rwanda, acquainting herself with the local insect population.

Dear Lisa Anne,
I feel compelled to share my own critter tale in response to your disturbing mite write of July 4th Homebody. As you know, I too was a victim of tiny visitors a little over a year ago, while travelling to and from England. About two weeks after returning from a friend’s wedding in SC, I developed itchy little bumps in the webs between my fingers. Friends advised me this was probably eczema from the hard water in Britain, but moisturizers and hand creams did nothing. The over-the-counter pharmacist at Boots prescribed Cortisone, thinking it could be an allergic reaction. Instead of clearing up, it spread. Itching was bad enough during the day — wreaking havoc on my concentration at work — but it was utterly intolerable at night, when I would peel off every chafing layer and lie in bed trying to let mind overcome matter. After two weeks, I went to the doctor, who immediately told me I had been infested with scabies!

What, you might ask (as I did), are scabies? They are little burrowing parasites which cling to fabric fibers before puncturing your skin and crawling inside. They then lay their eggs into your bloodstream, enabling them to travel all through your body. The itching is worse at night in correspondence to their most active life cycle. The original animals eventually die and get sloughed off with your dead skin, but until they do, their bodies are visible as tiny grey dots in each bump. The bump is actually your body’s reaction to this foreign inhabitant. The only way to cure scabies is to coat your body

11   I like This

Related posts:

Scabies Infestation Spiderlings Candidate for Worst (Bug) Story Ever Springtails, most likely