Department of Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
ESCMID Study Group for Infections in Travellers and Migrants, Basel, Switzerland.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Jun 22;16(6):e0010153. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010153. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Scabies is a global health concern disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations such as refugees and asylum seekers. Greece is a main point of entry in Europe for refugees, but epidemiological data on scabies in this population are scarce. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of scabies, including trends over the study period.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data were collected from June, 2016 to July, 2020, using the surveillance system of the Greek National Public Health Organization. Daily reports on scabies and other infectious diseases were submitted by staff at health centers for refugees/asylum seekers. Observed proportional morbidity for scabies was calculated using consultations for scabies as a proportion of total consultations. There were a total of 13118 scabies cases over the study period. Scabies was the third most frequently observed infectious disease in refugees/asylum seekers population after respiratory infections and gastroenteritis without blood in the stool. The scabies monthly observed proportional morbidity varied between 0.3% (August 2017) to 5.7% (January 2020). Several outbreaks were documented during the study period. The number of cases increased from October 2019 until the end of the study period, with a peak of 1663 cases in January 2020, related to an outbreak at one center. Spearman correlation test between the number of reported scabies cases and time confirmed an increasing trend (ρ = 0.67).
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Scabies is one of the most frequently reported infectious diseases by health care workers in refugee/asylum seekers centers in Greece. Observed proportional morbidity for scabies increased over time and there were several outbreaks. The current surveillance system with daily reports of the new cases effectively detects new cases in an early stage. Public health interventions, including mass drug administration, should be considered to reduce the burden of scabies in refugee/migrant populations.
疥疮是一个全球性的卫生问题， disproportionately 影响到弱势群体，如难民和寻求庇护者。希腊是欧洲难民的主要入境点，但关于这一人群中疥疮的流行病学数据却很少。我们旨在描述疥疮的流行病学情况，包括研究期间的趋势。
方法/主要发现：数据来自 2016 年 6 月至 2020 年 7 月，使用希腊国家公共卫生组织的监测系统收集。难民/寻求庇护者卫生中心的工作人员每天报告疥疮和其他传染病。观察到的疥疮发病率是根据疥疮就诊人数占总就诊人数的比例计算的。在研究期间共有 13118 例疥疮病例。疥疮是难民/寻求庇护者人群中仅次于呼吸道感染和无血便的胃肠炎之后的第三大常见传染病。疥疮每月观察到的发病率在 0.3%（2017 年 8 月）至 5.7%（2020 年 1 月）之间变化。研究期间记录了几起暴发。病例数量从 2019 年 10 月开始增加，直到研究结束，2020 年 1 月达到峰值 1663 例，与一个中心的暴发有关。报告的疥疮病例数量与时间之间的斯皮尔曼相关检验证实了一种上升趋势（ρ=0.67）。
结论/意义：疥疮是希腊难民/寻求庇护者中心卫生工作者报告的最常见传染病之一。观察到的疥疮发病率随时间增加，且有几起暴发。目前的监测系统通过每日报告新病例，能够在早期有效发现新病例。应考虑采取公共卫生干预措施，包括大规模药物治疗，以减轻难民/移民人群中疥疮的负担。
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