Tsoi SK

Lake SJ

Thean LJ

Matthews, Alexander

Sokana O

Kama M

Amaral S

Romani L

Whitfeld M

Francis, Joshua

Vaz Nery S

Marks M

Kaldor JM

Steer AC

Engelman D

2021-11-10

BACKGROUND: Scabies causes considerable morbidity in disadvantaged populations. The International Alliance for the Control of Scabies (IACS) published consensus criteria in 2020 to standardize scabies diagnosis. However, these criteria are complex, and a WHO informal consultation proposed simplified criteria for mapping, to identify regions of high prevalence as targets for mass drug administration. We aimed to investigate the accuracy of simplified criteria in determining scabies prevalence, compared to the 2020 IACS criteria. METHODS: We obtained data relating to demographics, relevant history and skin lesions from all-age prevalence surveys from Fiji (n = 3365) and Solomon Islands (n = 5239), as well as school-aged children in Timor-Leste (n = 1043). We calculated prevalence using the 2020 IACS criteria and simplified criteria and compared these disease estimates. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the pooled prevalence using the two methods (2020 IACS criteria: 16.6%; simplified criteria: 15.6%; difference = 0.9, [95% CI -0.1, 2.0]). In Timor-Leste, the prevalence using simplified criteria was lower (26.5% vs 33.8%). Simplified criteria had a sensitivity of 82.3% (95% CI 80.2, 84.2) and specificity of 97.6% (95% CI 97.2, 97.9) compared to the 2020 IACS criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The scabies prevalence estimation using simplified criteria was similar to using the 2020 IACS criteria in high prevalence, tropical countries. The prevalence estimation was lower in the school-based survey in Timor-Leste. Mapping using simplified criteria may be a feasible and effective public health tool to identify priority regions for scabies control. Further work assessing use of simplified criteria for mapping in a field setting should be conducted.

Tropical Diseases, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Children's Global Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.

Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Australia.

Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Ministry of Health, Dinem House, Suva, Republic of Fiji.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia.

The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

St Vincent's Hospital, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Department of Paediatrics, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Australia.

Clinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

Hospital for Tropical Diseases, University College London Hospital, London, UK.

Tropical Diseases, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Daniel.Engelman@rch.org.au.

Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Daniel.Engelman@rch.org.au.

Melbourne Children's Global Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. Daniel.Engelman@rch.org.au.

BMC Public Health . 2021 Nov 10;21(1):2060. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12039-2.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34758806/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/11956

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Estimation of scabies prevalence using simplified criteria and mapping procedures in three Pacific and southeast Asian countries.

Journal Article

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