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Abstract

Background: In 2017, scabies was officially classified as a neglected tropical illness by the World Health Organization (WHO), in an attempt to raise awareness and support initiatives to eradicate it. Additionally, the WHO's strategy for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 has recently included scabie, intended to prevent the Sustainable Development Goals from being neglected, in recent years, scabies appears to have grown widespread in Iraq most likely as a result of the country's densely populated areas and high levels of interpersonal interaction, this study fills crucial gaps and offers nuanced insights into the prevalence of scabies in Basra prevalence, the cross-sectional study design naturally restricts our capacity to assess risk.

Objective: Identify the frequency of scabies among patients attending Al-Faihaa Educational Hospital, clarify the relation between scabies and patients' age, gender and determine the seasonal variation for scabies occurrence.

Method:A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted on scabies outbreak in Al-Faihaa Educational Hospital which located at Basra in the South of Iraq during January and December 2023. Basic data obtained from infectious disease registries. All registered cases during 2023 were incorporated into the study, after which the data was digitized and examined using SPSS version 23 to create frequency tables for variables that were chosen for analysis. Data included socio-demographic information (age, sex, and seasonal variation). Their usual history of itching that gets worse at night, the location of lesions, and a history of interaction with other family members who have scabies were used to diagnose them with the disease. Microscopic identification of the mites and eggs using 10% potassium hydroxide is necessary for a definitive diagnosis.

Results: Information collected from (9935) scabies patients. Imaging and statistical testing of the data were performed. Research found that (5%) of patients who frequent the dermatology department at Al-Faihaa Teaching Hospital suffer from scabies, and scabies was more frequent among females (53%) than males (47%), and research revealed that scabies was more frequent in the age group less than one year (8%) the frequency of scabies was increased in January (11%) and February (9%), (P =0.01, asymp.sig.0.098). The study found that scabies were highly frequent at age groups (less than 1 year) (8%), while lower frequency was at age groups (11-20) years (1%), (P =0.05, asymp.sig.0.537).

Conclusions: This study was the first to investigate the relationship between the occurrence of an infectious disease such as scabies in citizen populations in Al-Faihaa Educational Hospital, the prevalence of scabies was (5%). According to this study, scabies infestations were more common in infants and children than in adults, the frequency of scabies was increased in January and February.

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