Thyresson N
Sydsven Medicinhist Sallsk Arsskr. 1994;31:79-90.
The scabies mite (acarus or sarcoptes scabiei) was known already to Aristoteles, to the Arabic medicine during the early and to European physicians as well as laymen during the later Middle Ages, depicted in 1687 by Bonomo in Italy and by Schwiebe in Germany during the beginning of the eighteenth century. Later in the middle of the century three pupils to Linnaeus in their doctor's theses stated that the scabies mite (Acarus humanus subcutaneus) was the cause of scabies. The best pictures of the scabies-mite as well as of the flour- and cheese-mite was given by the Swedish entomologist Charles de Geer in 1778. In spite of all these facts the real aetiology of scabies seemed to be unknown in France and in most parts of Europe. This was probably due to the fact that no one had learned the rather simple method to extract the mite from the skin with a needle and thereby verify its existence. In the beginning of the twentieth century scabies was a real problem for the health authorities. In Paris l'Académie de Médecine even offered a reward to the person who could solve the enigma of the itch. Jean Chrysanthe Galés was the pharmacist at l'Hôpital St. Louis, the famous skin hospital in Paris, where at this time about 65 percent of the beds were occupied by patients suffering from scabies. Galés also studied medicine and wanted to write a doctor's thesis. As the theme of a dissertation he was given the cause of the itch. In 1812 he published his thesis ("Essai sur la Gale") including a plate with sketches of mites that he claimed to have extracted from vesicules on the skin of his scabies patients. His findings could not be verified by other investigators. Galés however refused to take part in any control experiments and left the hospital. The debate concerning the supposed cause of the itch continued for two decades both inside and outside the hospital. F.C. Raspail, a famous natural scientist, was interested. After having studied the literature and especially the drawings by de Geer he was convinced that the mites depicted by Galés were similar to de Geers' flour-and cheese mite and that they had no resemblence to his picture of scabies-mite. In a control experiment Raspail could show how Galés had cheated by contaminating his slide with cheese-mites. However, a Corsican student at l'Hôpital St. Louis named S.F. Renucci knew the answer to the riddle. He had long ago been taught by peasant women of his home island how to extract the mite and he could now show the method to the doctors at l'Hôpital St. Louis. this was on August 13 in 1834, which usually in the literature is looked upon as the day when the discovery of the aethiology of scabies was made. Maybe we have a different view in Sweden.
疥螨（疥螨属或人疥螨）早在亚里士多德时代就已为人所知，中世纪早期阿拉伯医学有所记载，中世纪后期欧洲医生和普通民众也都知晓。1687年，意大利的博诺莫以及18世纪初德国的施维贝对其进行了描绘。该世纪中叶，林奈的三名学生在博士论文中指出，疥螨（皮下人螨）是疥疮的病因。1778年，瑞典昆虫学家查尔斯·德·吉尔给出了疥螨以及粉螨和酪螨的最佳图像。尽管如此，在法国和欧洲大部分地区，疥疮的真正病因似乎仍不为人知。这可能是因为没有人学会用针从皮肤中取出螨虫并以此验证其存在的相当简单的方法。20世纪初，疥疮对卫生当局来说是个实实在在的问题。在巴黎，医学科学院甚至悬赏能解开瘙痒之谜的人。让·克里桑特·加莱斯是巴黎著名的皮肤病医院圣路易医院的药剂师，当时该医院约65%的床位被疥疮患者占据。加莱斯也学医并想写博士论文。作为论文主题，他被要求研究瘙痒的病因。1812年，他发表了论文《疥疮论》，其中有一幅他声称从疥疮患者皮肤上的水疱中提取的螨虫素描图。其他研究者无法证实他的发现。然而，加莱斯拒绝参加任何对照实验并离开了医院。关于瘙痒假定病因的争论在医院内外持续了二十年。著名博物学家F.C. 拉斯帕伊对此很感兴趣。在研究了文献尤其是德·吉尔的绘图后，他确信加莱斯描绘的螨虫与德·吉尔的粉螨和酪螨相似，与他自己画的疥螨毫无相似之处。在一次对照实验中，拉斯帕伊能够证明加莱斯是如何通过用酪螨污染载玻片来作弊的。然而，圣路易医院的一名科西嘉学生S.F. 勒努奇知道这个谜题的答案。他早就从家乡岛屿的农妇那里学到了如何提取螨虫，现在他可以向圣路易医院的医生展示这个方法。这是在1834年8月13日，在文献中这一天通常被视为疥疮病因被发现的日子。也许在瑞典我们有不同的看法。
