SCABIES CASES MISDIAGNOSED AND TREATED AS ALLERGIC DISEASES: ITCH AS ALARM

Abstract

The lack of scabies recognition by physicians is often caused by its similarity with other dermatoses and allergies such as eczema, urticaria, atopic dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, etc.The aim of this study was to present the most common misdiagnoses of scabies in physician’s work. With the aim of preventing future misdiagnoses in physicians’ work, we present 6 cases of patients (1 woman and 5 men, aged 23-82) who had been misdiagnosed prior to admission to our ward (ter-tiary care unit). In our patients, scabies was unrecognized for months during which time the patients were treated for allergic/immune diseases (nummular eczema, drug-induced reaction, allergic contact dermatitis, autoimmune skin disease). Additionally, none of our patients had lived in unhygienic conditions or were close to infected persons, but all had concomitant itch. Because of the similarity between scabies and pruritic allergic disorders, it is important to exclude scabies before diagnosing an allergy, based on patient history and skin examination. Early scabies recognition in practice is crucial for minimizing the disease societal impacts.