In 1983-1984, in India, the prevalence of people with scabies was 4.7%. Today it is 40%.
Results showed that unsupervised home self-treatment was unsatisfactory, i.e. not done properly. So they devised an community project, Operation Dunking, where they compared the efficacy of treatment in two groups.
all members of a family were treated at one time. Each member of the family, including the index case, was examined by a doctor and the skin lesions were recorded on a chart. The patient was then made to take a bath with soap and water at the centre, and finally made to squat completely naked in 10% aqueous benzyl benzoate emulsion contained in an R.C.C. or a syntex tank. The tank measured 1 m x 1 m x 1 m and contained about 30 litres of 10% aqueous benzyl benzoate emulsion. Care was taken to see that the hips and the perineal area were immersed in the emulsion. The R.C.C. tank was fixed in the Health Centre whereas the syntex tanks were movable. While squatting in the tank, the patient scrubbed areas of skin lesions with a gauze piece to break open the lesions. The patient also smeared the emulsion all over the body. He/she then stood outside the tank to allow the body to dry. He/she then wore his/her clothes and was instructed not to remove them for the next 24 hours. The entire operation was supervised by the clinic staff, a male in the case of male patients and a female in the case of female patients.
The same emulsion was used over and over again; about 100 litres were required for 500 patients. No other treatment such as an antipruritic agent or an antibiotic was used in these patients.
In Group II, the patient was advised to bring all the family members to the hospital for treatment. Each infected person was given 300 ml of a 25% aqueous benzyl benzoate emulsion for three applications at home. Those with a bacterial infection were given an antibiotic in addition.
The patient was labelled as cured if all the skin lesions disappeared at the end of a week, as partially cured if 50% or more lesions disappeared; and as a failure if fewer than 50% lesions disappeared. A second treatment was given to failures as well as to those whose itching persisted beyond 7 days after the first treatment.
Results and concusions of the experiment:
The conventional treatment was found to be roughly 8 times as costly as the dip treatment, and just as effective, including repeats if it was necessary.
The same “Operation Dunking” described by a lay-person:
If you google “Operation Dunking”, you should find an article about a dunk tank they are using in India to treat people with scabies. They used a l0% Benzyl Benzoate in an “Aqueous Solution”. They compared it to the success rate of BB regular 25% topical and it was better in the dunk tank at 10%, probably because the mites couldn’t go anywhere and hide for later. One of the things that I went away with was that they had the people use a bit of gauze to rub themselves first with, to gently open the bumps a little. The tank is just 3ftx3ft and they’d have the people squat in it immersing their lower half and dip their hands in it and apply to their upper half with the gauze. Then, they had the people dress in their regular, but clean clothes and told them to wear the clothes without changing them for 24 hours! I guess that helps. Interesting. Also, they said that they used the same tank for 500 people. Mites just can’t live in BB. But the most interesting thing of all, is that in seven days if a person was still itchy or having bumps, they’d do it again. So if any treatment you use doesn’t seem to relieve your symptoms, don’t assume it’s post. Most treatments are two time things, maybe even three. The lesson here is to get that second treatment. After than, I’d say it’s your own judgement call, but 25% of BB treatments fail, even though mites can’t get immune to it. So, just treat twice to be sure, five to seven days apart for best results, no matter what you use. So, I just wonder what the solution was, the aqueous part?? Anyway, I’d like a dunk tank approach to this. Every clinic should have one. It was very cheap to treat a lot of people.
Here is what I have to say:
People are told one thing and they will hear another. They will not even follow completely what they heard… so people left to their own devices will not get cured. Even in the dunk tanks, the instructions are “rub yourself so you open the bumps, so the bb can get to the mites… Some did it, some didn’t do it. Someplace they did it, other places, like their nether regions, they didn’t want to do it.
Mites “know” this. So they go directly to your nether regions.
In the biting mites membership site, I publish many articles, results, what works, what does not work. Your results will vary because of your inability or reluctance to follow instructions.