Abstract
Microscopic examinations following staining with Zoomblue® fungal staining solution were used to achieve highly sensitive visualization of mites, eggs, and scybala (fecal pellets) of Sacroptes scabiei var. hominis. Soaking in the solution for 30 minutes resulted in mites and eggs that were barely stained. Some scybala were stained red-purple; however, others were only slightly stained. After soaking for 12 hours, however almost all of the scybala were intensely stained a blue-purple color. While Zoomblu® is useful for detecting scybala of S. scabiei var. hominis, the Chlorazol black E fungal staining solution seems to be more useful, because it can stain scybala within five minutes. These data suggest that if no clues indicating scabies are found at the first microscopic examination with these fungal staining solutions, samples should be re-evaluated again after a longer staining period.
