Lying on a towel, feet in the sand, which would have imagined crossing the scabies in the decor of summer holidays? This summer 2025, the disease made a shattering return, sowing concern in families and the ranks of health professionals. Worried parents, asked doctors, young people divided between embarrassment and misunderstanding: the wave is growing. How to explain this explosion of cases and why is it particularly targeting children and young adults? Here are the underside of a silent but terribly effective contamination.
Gap in freedom: A resounding return in the lives of young people
When scabies rhymes with summer: alarming figures
Since the beginning of the summer of 2025, more and more young French people have been affected by scabies. Medical and pharmacies observe an unusual increase in consultations related to persistent itching and disturbing rashes, especially in children, adolescents and young adults. Several schools and leisure centers also confirm an increase in reports, shaking up habits and sometimes sowing confusion. The massive reappearance of this skin condition surprises as much as it concerns health professionals.
This forgotten parasite that sneaks everywhere: An expanding scourge
Scabies, long perceived as a rare or outdated disease, is now back on the front of the stage. This little parasite, invisible to the naked eye, circulates faster than one imagines, taking advantage of the promiscuity and the release of the usual barriers. Between 2023 and 2025, reports doubled in several French regions. Such a revival shakes up received ideas, recalling that scabies is neither linked to the lack of hygiene nor to a specific social context, but that it can touch all circlesas soon as the conditions lend themselves to it.
Stampede, Heat, promiscuity: summer, ideal season for scabies?
Holidays, White camps and nights: the transmission playground
Student evenings, outdoor festivals, colony stays … summer is synonymous with promiscuity. Short nights, the absence of a space barrier, collective gatherings and accommodation multiply close contact opportunities. For scabies, which is mainly transmitted by Direct skin contactit’s perfect boon. A simple bed sharing, towel or clothing is enough to propagate the parasite, making each summer event a potential contamination focusespecially among the youngest, fond of group moments and physical proximity.
A conducive climate: heat, unknown explosion factor
Summer heat also plays its role, often underestimated. High temperatures increase perspiration and, with it, itching and scratches, which indirectly facilitate the dissemination of the parasite. During a heat wave, lighter clothes and skin -to -skin contact are more frequent, promoting the passage of scabies from one person to another. This climate, combined with the density of seasonal events, creates a Perfect storm for the multiplication of casesin particular in the festive and friendly places very popular with young people.
Between beliefs and taboos: Why scabies continue to surprise
Received ideas, Shame and diagnostic delays: invisible disease
Scabies still suffers from a negative image and a lack of visibility. Many believe that it no longer exists, or that only precarious environments are concerned. This taboo delays the recognition of symptoms and the search for care, especially since the disease often begins with simple nighttime itching, which can go unnoticed in the middle of summer. The fear of the gaze of others, the fear of being stigmatizedpushes the youngest to minimize or hide the symptoms, which gives time to the disease to spread silently.
How lack of information Promotes propagation
Many young people and parents still ignore modes of transmission and prevention gestures. The lack of targeted information campaigns leaves the door open to risky behavior, such as clothing loan or sleeping sharing. Myths persist, fueling confusion and slowing up reactivity in the face of the first signs. Better informit is already better protecting and preventing the disease from settled in the summer sphere and beyond.
Diagnostic express, sometimes galley treatments: the highlights of the care path
Symptoms that scratch, doctors who alert: how to detect scabies
Identify the scabies is not always an easy task. The first signs – intense itching, especially at night, small red pimples in “furrows” on the wrists, fingers, elbows or around the waist – sometimes pass for allergies or insect bites. General practitioners are increasingly contacted by worried patients, and recall the importance of consulting without delay in the event of doubt, to limit the spread of the parasite within the family or the group of friends.
Treat quickly, Treat all: the arsenal in front of the parasite
No miracle treatment, but a printed protocol. Baths, specific creams, laundry changes and large -scale disinfections are on the agenda from the confirmed diagnosis. Essential recommendation: Take care of all people who have had close contact with the person affectedeven in the absence of symptoms. This Group treatmentaccompanied by rigorous hygiene, makes it possible to stop the chain of transmission and avoid the snowball effect, so feared during collective stays and large summer gatherings.
Young people, First concerned: why they?
Young and old teens: Life in community, fertile ground
Childhood and adolescence are synonymous with discoveries, adventures, but also close contacts. Green classes, colos, collective sports, pajama evenings … everything contributes to frequent skin contacts, the ideal condition for the spread of scabies. The youngest change of activities, environments and interlocutors much more often than adults, which multiplies the risk of transmission Without even being aware of it.
The angry gestures: Contacts, sports, and risky habits
Hugs, hugs, contact sports, but also exchanges of clothing or duvets are all entrance doors for the parasite. The sharing of sports or bedding materials during summer events amplifies the phenomenon, just like the nights spent with friends. By forgetting caution during these intense moments, the dissemination is done at low noisemaking the fight against scabies more complicated.
Can we stop the wave? Prevent, inform, react
Tips to break the chain contamination this summer
Adopting a few simple gestures makes it possible to considerably limit the risks.
- Avoid sharing linen, clothing or litteries, especially during festivals and colonies
- Wash sheets, towels and clothes at 60 ° C in case of suspicion
- Wash your hands carefully, especially after close contact
- Quickly consult in the presence of persistent itching, especially at night
- Inform relatives and activities of activities as soon as symptoms appear
The importance of talking about it: towards a collective awareness
Getting out of shame and embarrassment is allowing a rapid and collective reaction. Dare to evoke the possibility of contamination, warning his relatives and consulting without delay are reflexes to encourage. Dialogue within families, groups of friends and communities is a Powerful weapon to stop the epidemic And protect the youngest, who are also the most exposed by their lifestyles.
Last landmarks: what to remember and the reflexes to adopt
Key points to protect young people (and the less young)
What to remember from this summer wave ? Scabies is not a vestige of the past, nor a shameful disease. It is very easily transmitted by Direct skin contactespecially during moments of promiscuity linked to summer. The main gestures to stop the spread: monitor the appearance of symptoms, consult without delay, inform those around him and Avoid sharing personal effects. Nothing replaces collective vigilance.
What tracks to avoid the return in force Gale at the start of the school year?
Inform young people and their parents, establishing reflexes from the first signs are essential. As back to school approaches, prevention and screening in schools, sports clubs and collective structures must intensify to avoid an extension of the epidemic. Preserve the health of the youngest, but also of families, goes through a mobilization of all And adapted information, without fear or stigma.
Knowing the scabies, its tips and its traps is to offer everyone, young or less young, the means to take full advantage of the summer … without bad surprise at the start of the school year. Faced with this unexpected return, the best weapon remains the vigilance combined with solidarity. Taking care of yourself is also protecting others. The current challenge is to circulate information more quickly than the parasite itself.
