Usually scabies is contracted by close intimate contact with someone else that is infected with the mites.
However, this isn’t always the case. It only takes one contact with some scabies eggs or a pregnant adult to begin an infection. People with weak immune systems are more likely to become infected, but anyone can get scabies, no matter how clean and healthy they are.
Scabies mites have four stages to their life cycle. The egg, the larvae, the nymph and the adult. Adults can only survive about 3 days apart from a host but can live for a month when on a human body.
When scabies mites come in contact with your skin they borrow in to feed, reproduce and lay their eggs. Scabies are usually spread to other parts of the body by scratching which puts the microscopic eggs under your fingernails and then spread wherever else on your body you touch.
They usually will not embed on the head or face and prefer areas where the skin is thicker as they can survive longer before an immune response is triggered by the body.
