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Scabies

Nature Reviews Disease Primers volume 10, Article number: 74 (2024) Cite this article

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Abstract

Scabies is one of the most common and highest-burden skin diseases globally. Estimates suggest that >200 million people worldwide have scabies at any one time, with an annual prevalence of 455 million people, with children in impoverished and overcrowded settings being the most affected. Scabies infection is highly contagious and leads to considerable morbidity. Secondary bacterial infections are common and can cause severe health complications, including sepsis or necrotizing soft-tissue infection, renal damage and rheumatic heart disease. There is no vaccine or preventive treatment against scabies and, for the past 30 years, only few broad-spectrum antiparasitic drugs (mainly topical permethrin and oral ivermectin) have been widely available. Treatment failure is common because drugs have short half-lives and do not kill all developmental stages of the scabies parasite. At least two consecutive treatments are needed, which is difficult to achieve in resource-poor and itinerant populations. Another key issue is the lack of a practical, rapid, cheap and accurate diagnostic tool for the timely detection of scabies, which could prevent the cycle of exacerbation and disease persistence in communities. Scabies control will require a multifaceted approach, aided by improved diagnostics and surveillance, new treatments, and increased public awareness.

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Fig. 1: The cellular and molecular landscape in early scabies infection.
Fig. 2: The global burden of scabies and associated sequelae.
Fig. 3: Scabies and bacterial proteins interfering with the host complement and coagulation cascades.
Fig. 4: The skin microenvironment in severe scabies.
Fig. 5: Proposed cellular and molecular mechanisms in scabies-mediated itch.
Fig. 6: Clinical presentation of classic scabies.
Fig. 7: Clinical presentation of crusted scabies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank M. Flynn and M. Naghavi for help on the Figures. The authors also thank the anonymous patient for providing their experience.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scabies Laboratory, Infection and Inflammation Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Deepani D. Fernando & Katja Fischer

  2. School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia

    Kate E. Mounsey

  3. Research Group Dynamic, EA7380, Faculté de Santé de Créteil, USC ANSES, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Créteil, France

    Charlotte Bernigaud

  4. Department of Microbiology, Seth G S Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, India

    Nuzhat Surve

  5. State Institute of Cancer “Dr. Arturo Beltrán Ortega”, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Community Dermatology Mexico, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

    Guadalupe E. Estrada Chávez

  6. St Johns Institute of Dermatology, King’s College London, London, UK

    Roderick J. Hay

  7. Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

    Bart J. Currie

  8. Hôpital Universitaire La Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, Paris, France

    Olivier Chosidow

Authors
  1. Deepani D. Fernando
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  2. Kate E. Mounsey
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  3. Charlotte Bernigaud
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  8. Olivier Chosidow
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Contributions

Introduction (K.F. and D.D.F.); Epidemiology (R.J.H. and B.J.C.); Mechanisms/pathophysiology (K.F., D.D.F. and K.E.M.); Diagnosis, screening and prevention (K.F. and C.B.); Management (K.E.M., C.B., G.E.E.C., B.J.C. and O.C.); Quality of life (K.F. and N.S.); Outlook (K.F. and O.C.); overview of the Primer (K.F.).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katja Fischer.

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Nature Reviews Disease Primers thanks P. T. Campbell, R. R. Yotsu, A. Bowen and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of the images in Figs. 6 and 7 and Box 4.

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Fernando, D.D., Mounsey, K.E., Bernigaud, C. et al. Scabies. Nat Rev Dis Primers 10, 74 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-024-00552-8

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