Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease
Scabies, an old parasitic disease with a worldwide presence, has witnessed a recent resurgence in many parts of the world even in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a study on this resurgence in the Italian province of Messina, Sicily, evaluating the general features of affected people...
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Elsevier
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Parasite Epidemiology and Control |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405673124000564 |
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| author | Antonio Laganà Ilaria Saia Giovanni Genovese Giuseppa Visalli Giuseppa D'Andrea Salvatore Sidoti Angela Di Pietro Alessio Facciolà |
| author_facet | Antonio Laganà Ilaria Saia Giovanni Genovese Giuseppa Visalli Giuseppa D'Andrea Salvatore Sidoti Angela Di Pietro Alessio Facciolà |
| author_sort | Antonio Laganà |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scabies, an old parasitic disease with a worldwide presence, has witnessed a recent resurgence in many parts of the world even in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a study on this resurgence in the Italian province of Messina, Sicily, evaluating the general features of affected people to better understand the possible modes of transmission. Specifically, we considered all the scabies notifications made in the period 2003–2022. Then, we focused on those cases occurred in the three-years period 2020–2022 carrying out an active surveillance by calling patients and asking them questions about their recent habits and movements and their consequent chances of contracting the disease. In total, 935 cases of scabies were reported from 2003 to 2022, with a remarkable increase between 2020 and 2022, when 288 cases were reported. Of these patients, we were able to reach by phone 240 (83.3 %) and interview them. Students were the most affected group (24.1 %), followed by retirees (21.0 %) and healthcare workers (13.2 %). Unfortunately, concerning the possible mode of transmission, more than half (58.5 %) of patients were not able to understand the real source of their infection. When known, the most common ways of transmission were a familiar origin (10.7 %) followed by causes linked to health environments (nursing home stays and hospital admissions). Moreover, 66.9 % of all the reported cases were part of an outbreak. Larger outbreaks occurred in healthcare facilities for more than half of the cases (69.4 %), the majority of which (88.9 %) were in nursing homes. Our research confirms the resurgence of scabies in our territory similar to trends in other European countries. Some critical factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, probably played a key role in influencing this epidemiological trend and showed the importance of always monitoring the epidemiology of all notifiable diseases to enable prompt action by competent authorities to limit their spread to the community. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-249249d3f1f043a69f0dc223d65bf288 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2405-6731 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Parasite Epidemiology and Control |
| spelling | doaj-art-249249d3f1f043a69f0dc223d65bf2882025-08-20T01:57:51ZengElsevierParasite Epidemiology and Control2405-67312024-11-0127e0039210.1016/j.parepi.2024.e00392Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old diseaseAntonio Laganà0Ilaria Saia1Giovanni Genovese2Giuseppa Visalli3Giuseppa D'Andrea4Salvatore Sidoti5Angela Di Pietro6Alessio Facciolà7Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy; Istituto Clinico Polispecialistico C.O.T., Cure Ortopediche Traumatologiche s.p.a., 98124 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Prevention, Provincial Health Agency, 98123 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Prevention, Provincial Health Agency, 98123 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy; Corresponding author.Scabies, an old parasitic disease with a worldwide presence, has witnessed a recent resurgence in many parts of the world even in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a study on this resurgence in the Italian province of Messina, Sicily, evaluating the general features of affected people to better understand the possible modes of transmission. Specifically, we considered all the scabies notifications made in the period 2003–2022. Then, we focused on those cases occurred in the three-years period 2020–2022 carrying out an active surveillance by calling patients and asking them questions about their recent habits and movements and their consequent chances of contracting the disease. In total, 935 cases of scabies were reported from 2003 to 2022, with a remarkable increase between 2020 and 2022, when 288 cases were reported. Of these patients, we were able to reach by phone 240 (83.3 %) and interview them. Students were the most affected group (24.1 %), followed by retirees (21.0 %) and healthcare workers (13.2 %). Unfortunately, concerning the possible mode of transmission, more than half (58.5 %) of patients were not able to understand the real source of their infection. When known, the most common ways of transmission were a familiar origin (10.7 %) followed by causes linked to health environments (nursing home stays and hospital admissions). Moreover, 66.9 % of all the reported cases were part of an outbreak. Larger outbreaks occurred in healthcare facilities for more than half of the cases (69.4 %), the majority of which (88.9 %) were in nursing homes. Our research confirms the resurgence of scabies in our territory similar to trends in other European countries. Some critical factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, probably played a key role in influencing this epidemiological trend and showed the importance of always monitoring the epidemiology of all notifiable diseases to enable prompt action by competent authorities to limit their spread to the community.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405673124000564ScabiesEpidemiologyCOVID-19 pandemicResurgence |
| spellingShingle | Antonio Laganà Ilaria Saia Giovanni Genovese Giuseppa Visalli Giuseppa D'Andrea Salvatore Sidoti Angela Di Pietro Alessio Facciolà Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease Parasite Epidemiology and Control Scabies Epidemiology COVID-19 pandemic Resurgence |
| title | Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease |
| title_full | Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease |
| title_fullStr | Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease |
| title_full_unstemmed | Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease |
| title_short | Resurgence of scabies in Italy: The new life of an old disease |
| title_sort | resurgence of scabies in italy the new life of an old disease |
| topic | Scabies Epidemiology COVID-19 pandemic Resurgence |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405673124000564 |
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