Can I get scabies from infected bathrooms?

Short answer: Yes, you can get scabies from an infected toilet seat! Scabies is highly contagious and if the person who used the bathroom before you had a bad case, they may be lingering on the seat, waiting for you to put your butt down. This is the main reason why you’ll want to do everything you can to sanitize public restrooms before using them, and why you should keep your home bathroom clean. While scabies isn’t common enough to walk around being paranoid all the time, you’ll want to know it exists and be cautious.

If you are experiencing severe itching, you may have contracted a case of scabies. They are also known as the seven year itch. It will develop into a rash and cause an infection if left untreated. The scabies mite burrows under the skin and burrows, causing a severe itching sensation.

You can get scabies anywhere on your body, but its favorite places are cracks and crevices. Look for them in places like between your fingers and toes, around the waist, in the genital region, armpits, and for women, under the breasts. If you scratch too much, you could get a secondary infection like strep or impetigo.

If you’re older, or malnourished, or have a poor immune system, you may have a worse case of scabies, where it can scab over and get much worse. You definitely do not want to get Norwegian scabies. Do a Google image search if you want to be grossed out.

Since there is no vaccine for scabies, you just have to be careful and hope you don’t catch it. If it does, your doctor can provide you with medication that will help soothe the itching and kill the scabies mites. Prevention is the best cure, so you should thoroughly clean your house to prevent it from spreading. Here are some things you can do to make sure you don’t get it, or if you already got it, you don’t get it again:

Be sure to treat all furniture and bedding. This makes a lot of sense because it’s where we spend most of our time and it provides a nice warm place for scabies bugs to stay. You’ll also want to vacuum all your floors, rugs, and any rugs you may have. Use a disinfectant like Lysol in the bathroom with a mop on the floor and other smooth surfaces. Be sure to scrub the shower and tub each time you use them. And lastly, every day you’ll want to wash the clothes you wore that day in hot water, and dry them on the hot setting, and then use a steam iron.

Show no mercy when it comes to scabies!