An Epic Poem on Childhood - 1 - Scabies
The earth you knew was worth loving, like pearl
in childhood when you sat on the ground
and played with it
rough, soft, grainy, pebbly, rocky, sandy, hard or creating a strange
feeling in you as it slipped through your hands and fingers
a slight, attractive revulsion
you knew it could cause you itching, skin allergy and
bad wounds that scratch and fester with pus
you had seen it on the legs of others
the ill or sad effects
but still you played on
and the earth rewarded you:
you never came across bad earth.
The Decrepitude of the Body -- Hans Weiditz
Scabies ("the seven-year itch" or "camp itch") is a contagious skin infestation that occurs when female mites (Sarcoptes scabiei hominis), which are so small they are usually not directly visible, burrow into one's skin to live and deposit eggs, provoking an allergic reaction, but it is most often spread during a relatively long period of direct skin contact with an infected person even if no symptoms have developed yet (such as during sex; condom use is ineffective against scabies transmission because the mites typically migrate from one individual to the next at sites other than the sex organs). Usually symptoms occur two to six weeks after infestation (though it may take months or years for them to occur, and they may occur within a day if a second infection occurs later in life); symptoms often persist for several weeks after the mites have been eradicated. The most common symptoms are severe itchiness and a pimple-like rash, and tiny burrows may be seen in the skin. These symptoms may occur across most of the body or just in certain areas such as the wrists, between fingers, along the waistline, under the breasts or between the buttocks. Blisters and pustules on the palms and soles of the feet are characteristic symptoms of scabies in infants. The head may also be affected, though this is typically only in the case of young children. Scratching may cause skin breakdown and an additional bacterial infection of the skin. The itch is often worse at night. Crusted scabies ("Norwegian scabies") is a more severe form which typically only affects people with a poor immune system; affected people may have millions of mites, instead of the usual 10-15, making them much more contagious. About 100 million people are affected (1.5% of the world population). The word "scabies" is from Latin "scabere" (to scratch). The etiology was first documented by Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo (1663-1696), and Diacinto Cestoni (1637–1718) was the first to describe the mite.
ReplyDelete