Avenzoar's description of the scabies mite
Ácaro de la sarna y observaciones clínicas de Avenzoar
- Date
- c. 1130 · confidence medium
- Place
- Seville, Andalusia, Spain
- Credited to
- Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar)
- People
- 👤 Ibn Zuhr1091–1162
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
In his Kitab al-Taysir he describes a tiny creature beneath the skin as the cause of scabies, and records experimental tracheotomy in goats and tube feeding. He argued for experimentation before applying treatments to humans.
The parasitic cause of scabies was not accepted until Bonomo and Cestoni (1687); Ibn Zuhr's passage is brief and its significance is debated.
What it led to
- parasitic aetiology of scabies
- experimental surgery in animals
- medicine of Averroes