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War and scabies go hand in hand, and so the detection and treatment of scabies in returning soldiers are important. The period of incubation of scabies is about three weeks. Although the disease may have been contracted in India, China, France or Italy, it may not be evident until after the soldier has landed in the United States because of the speed of modern travel. The zeal to see his sweetheart, wife or family may overshadow the "itch," and thus the soldier innocently spreads the infection to a large number of persons by various means, such as riding buses and trains, sleeping in hotels and private homes and sexual intercourse. Though the number of cases seen in an army general hospital nowhere compares with that seen overseas or in large camps, there are enough to constitute a therapeutic problem. Incidentally, it appeared to me that there were proportionately many more