Delusion of Parasitosis (Acarophobia)

IN THE year 1946 a discussion of the delusion of parasitosis was presented in the dermatologic literature 1 under joint authorship with the late Dr. Hiram E. Miller, in which it was pointed out that patients who unalterably but falsely believe that the skin is infested with parasites are suffering from a severe mental illness only rarely correctable by the dermatologist and occasionally by the psychiatrist. The designation acarophobia, under which the syndrome was previously classed, was deemed inappropriate because such patients rarely selected the organism of scabies as the infesting parasite and seldom exhibited any of the fear, dread, or hysteria usually associated with the other phobias. Only 45 cases could be found recorded in the literature, whereas the disorder occurs much more frequently than that figure would indicate. Six cases which had come under our own observation were presented and discussed. In reviewing and tabulating the