What Causes Lice And Scabies Despite Taking Treatment?

Posted on Thu, 25 Aug 2016

Question: My brother 62 years old has been treated for lice and scabies with no relieve. Could he have something
else? nO TREATMENT SEEMS TO WORK. ANY SUGGESTIONS

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
can be due to treatment failure or other causes

Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

Some persons can have failure of scabies treatment and need repeat dosing.

In some cases, even though the treatment has been successful, the itching can continue for 2 to 4 weeks after the initial treatment. If it continues beyond this time then the person is retreated.

There are also other causes of generalized itching if this is his symptom (not mentioned above) such as: (1)liver disease,
(2) kidney disease,
(3) allergies,
(4) thyroid disease and rarely diabetes
(5)iron deficiency anemia, polycythemia vera
(6)rarely rarely some types of cancer

Blood tests for liver function, kidney function, thyroid, screening for diabetes, complete blood count and ESR ( these last two would show up the blood disorders mentioned and also if any changes related to rare cause of cancer)

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Note: Hope the answers resolves your concerns, however for further guidance of skin related queries consult our Dermatologist.Click here to book a consultation

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar