What is crusted scabies?

Crusted scabies is another term for Norwegian scabies. It is a severe infestation of scabies mites in the skin.

With a case of crusted scabies you can have as many as a thousand mites all over the body.

Crusted scabies has been called Norwegian scabies because the condition was first described in Norway in the mid-19th century.
Crusted scabies has been defined as a scabies-induced psoriasiform dermatosis on the hands and feet with dystrophy of the nails and an erythematous scaling eruption that may be generalized.
Crusted scabies almost always affects people with a compromised immune system and is observed most frequently in the elderly, mentally or physically disabled, and in patients with AIDS, lymphoma, or other conditions that decrease the effectiveness of the immune response.
Scabies is not readily transmitted by clothing, bed sheets, or other fomites, but this mode of transmission should be considered with cases of crusted (severe) scabies, due to the extreme mite burden.
The scabies mite is very easy to find in crusted scabies due to the number of mites causing the infestation, but can be hard to find in cases of classic scabies where there is an average of only 12 mites on the body at one time.
Crusted scabies occurs predominantly in patients who are immunocompromised, elderly, institutionalized, or bedridden.
Crusted scabies – People with a weakened immune system (including those with HIV infection, lymphoma, or other conditions) may develop “crusted scabies”, also called “Norwegian scabies”.

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