Are pubic lice contagious?

Pubic lice is a very common sexually transmitted disease, which is mainly transmitted through sexual intercourse. Therefore, when you are diagnosed with this disease, you should pay attention to your own hygiene and undergo isolated treatment. Even your spouse should be treated together to ensure that there will be no cross-infection. Do not have any sexual intercourse during the treatment period to prevent your condition from becoming more serious.

The patient or his/her spouse has a history of unclean sexual contact, or stayed away from home before the onset of the disease. The main sites of disease are the pubic hair area and around the anus, and can also be seen in the armpit hair and chest hair areas. Common subjective symptoms are severe itching, especially at night, which is mainly limited to the pubic area, but can also affect the perianal area, lower abdomen, armpits, eyelashes and calves. The spouse or sexual partner may have similar symptoms.

Grayish-white sand-like particles (lice eggs) and slowly-moving pubic lice can be seen attached to the pubic hair. The pubic lice may half burrow into the skin and half remain outside the skin. The skin lesions are scratches and blood scabs, or scattered blue hemorrhagic ecchymoses, which are commonly seen on the inner thigh, lower abdomen and waist. This is because when pubic lice suck blood, their saliva enters the blood and denatures the hemoglobin. After the pubic lice are killed, these blue spots may persist for several months. There are often dotted brown blood stains on the patient's underwear, which are caused by bleeding from the blood-sucking sites of pubic lice. Excessive scratching can lead to secondary folliculitis, impetigo and furunculosis bacterial infection.

Need to be differentiated from the following diseases:

1. Scabies infection

Scabies is a highly contagious parasite that is invisible to the naked eye. Any objects touched by the patient may be infected. Scabies likes to be active at night, and it causes obvious itching at night. Its characteristic rash is located between the fingers, scrotum, etc., with characteristic tunnels, papules and papulovesicles.

2. Trichomonas infection

Trichomonas is a very tiny protozoan with flagella that cannot be seen with the naked eye and must be observed under a microscope. It is usually transmitted through sexual contact. It occurs only in the urogenital tract, mainly the vagina, urethra and prostate. Most men are asymptomatic after being infected with Trichomonas vaginalis, but most women have symptoms, such as foul-smelling yellow-green vaginal discharge and vulvar irritation.

3. Vulvar skin pruritus

There are no primary lesions, no blue spots, and no pubic lice or lice eggs found. Pubic lice can often be complicated by other sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea and syphilis.

4. Others

It needs to be differentiated from a variety of diseases, such as body lice, scabies, impetigo, seborrheic dermatitis, vulvar pruritus and contact dermatitis.