So you’re itching in your pubic region excessively and you notice that your sex partner is also? Well it looks like you’ve got crabs. No these aren’t the kind that you’ve seen in the little mermaid: they are an STD, a crab-like mite that is living deep within your coarse hairy areas.
Crabby McCrabs A Lot
Pthirus pubis, or crabs as they’re often so affectionately called, are small parasites that survive by attaching themselves to coarse body hair where they periodically feed off your blood by biting you. They are most commonly transmitted through sexual intercourse and cause an intense itching sensation in the infected area.
How to Be Sure That You Are Infected
The best way is to see a health care professional, but usually people would rather diagnose themselves when it comes to such matters. Here are some symptoms that will clue you in to the fact that, yes, you do have crabs:
- Your pubic/arm pit/other hairy area itches constantly. This is from an allergic reaction that you have to the crab bites. This usually starts about five days after you contract the crabs.
- Dark/blue-ish spots will appear in the infected area from the crab bites, and may last for several days.
- Looking closely you may notice the crabs themselves. They are very small and usually gray in color.
- You may also notice the crab eggs, which are a white round ball usually attached to the base of the hairs.
Where Did These Little Buggers Come From?
You can easily get crabs when any part of an infected person’s coarse body hair comes in contact with your coarse body hair. That means during sexual contact, but there need not be any sexual intercourse. Crabs can also be obtained from using infested clothing or towels, or sleeping in an infested bed. Very rarely is it actually transmitted from an infested toilet seat. Crabs themselves can only live for about 24 hours off of the human body, but their eggs can last much longer.
Alrighty, How Do I Kill Them?
Getting rid of crabs is often easier said than done. They’re pesky little beasts and can infest everything from your clothes to your bed. So heres the low down on how to kill them:
- Buy a Crab Killin’ Shampoo
- Go to the drug store and buy an over-the-counter crab killing shampoo. Some examples would be Permethrin or Pyrethrins. Follow the directions on the bottle, but don’t forget to do it again in a few weeks to get rid of whatever eggs survived.
Get rid of the hair!! Perhaps not an official method but it worked for me when I had crabs in the pubic area. I shaved all hair below my head. Without hair the little buggers cannot hang on. After 2 days they were gone.
- Burn Your Clothes
- No No, just kidding. But you should launder your clothes and bed sheets with hot water (130 degrees F) and dry them on a hot cycle. This will kill the parasites and any eggs.
- Notify Your Sex Partner
- Help them get treatment too since they probably have it now too. Don’t want to spend all this time trying to get rid of them just to get them again!
Preventative Maintenence
- Abstinence would work, but who wants to do that?
- Mutual Monogamy. Limiting the number of sex partners will help keep you clean.
Keep in mind that these bugs often become resistant to over the counter medications and a trip to the doctor might be in order.
Presentation on the pubic lice
