Scabies Mite

The scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, is a microscopic parasitic mite that burrows into the outer layer of human skin, where the female lays eggs in tunnels she excavates, found in human populations worldwide and spread primarily through prolonged skin-to-skin contact. Infestation causes scabies, a condition marked by intense itching and a pimple-like rash that results from an allergic reaction to the mites, their eggs and their waste rather than from the burrowing itself, and related subspecies of the same mite also infest dogs, cats and other mammals.