The mite can move on the warm surface of the skin, traversing as much as 2.5 centimeters in a minute. The parasite exercises some selection in the part of the body into which it burrows, but it may be related to the body part contacting another infected individual. The female mite takes approximately one hour to bury itself in the horny layer of the skin, and it never tunnels deeper than this. The mite usually remains in her burrow for the rest of her life. The mites feed by consuming the host's lymph and lysed tissue.
Victims frequently scratch out mites with their finger nails.
Although this may prevent the infestation from achieving its potential growth in numbers, it does not achieve a cure. More commonly, it results in secondary skin infections, thus compounding the problem. This text was extracted from the publication, MF-2094.