Transmission occurs most often by direct intimate contacts or less frequently may take place after contact with sheets, lines or other contaminated objects. The mite can survive outside the host for up to 2 days in fomites. The clinical pattern is highly variable and depends mostly on duration and degree of infection, on sensitization to parasite proteins and on degree of hygiene. The lesion is rarely observed and is often damaged or truncated by scratching. Lesions are found in interdigital spaces, wrists, folds, penis and scrotum, but any site of the skin can be involved.
Diagnosis is obtained by identification of the mite or eggs in skin biopsies or scrapings.