Keywords: scabies, transmission, Mellanby, fomites, beds

In the early 1940s, scabies was an important cause of morbidity in the troops.  Kenneth Mellanby did important, but ethically questionable, experiments on conscientious objectors to determine how scabies spreads.  Interestingly, fomites do not seems to be a serious risk for transmission.  I’ve attached a link to Mellenby’s report in the British Medical Journal from 1941.  Scabies Transmission by Kenneth Mellanby

Kenneth Mellanby died in 1994.  His obituary is interesting.