What is the difference between body lice and scabies?

What is the difference between body lice and scabies?

Scabies is a skin condition caused by tiny arachnids (bugs with bodies that have two segments and eight legs) called mites. Scabies symptoms look similar to body lice symptoms, including itching and a discolored skin rash.

Mites are smaller than body lice, and they live in the folds and narrow cracks of your skin. These areas may include:

• Folds in between your fingers and toes.
• Waist.
• Under your fingernails.
• Folds in your genitals.
• Folds in your thighs.

Mites burrow into the upper levels of your skin to lay their eggs. Body lice don’t burrow into your skin. They only bite your skin to feed on your blood, and they lay their nits in the seams of your clothes.