Why are they hard to treat? A preliminary survey to predict important factors causing persistent scabies among students of religion-affiliated boarding schools in Indonesia

Abstract

Scabies is difficult to treat in some settings. By observation, it is highly prevalent among students of religion-affiliated boarding schools in Indonesia. Treatment often results in temporary relief. It is known that treatment alone will fail if personal hygiene and environment problems are not addressed. The aforementioned boarding schools have certain challenging characteristics, and several studies have found they might influence those problems. Our study aimed to specify and describe the characteristics to prepare future mass treatment in tackling with the problems. The study recruited and interviewed 105 students of a boarding school located in West Java region. The problems identified were sharing clothes/prayer attire among students, infrequent washing of clothes, availability of hot water, sharing beds, lack of bed sheet, and the presence of scabies among friends and siblings at home. A successful treatment plan must provide means to improve these habits.

Prevalence of scabies worldwide—An updated systematic literature review in 2022

“…All of them were written in English. No study written in German, Spanish or French met the inclusion criteria 14‐57 …”

“…More than half of the studies ( n = 23) were restricted to children (Figure 2). 15,16,17,19,21,24,25,26,28,29,30,32,34,38,39,40,41,49,50,52,54,55,56 …”

“…24,31 Most of the studies (n = 31) were conducted in either medium or low HDI countries. 14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,26,29,30,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,44,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,55 The overall prevalence of scabies ranged from 0.18% to 76.9% in the included studies, with both values measured in child populations. The highest prevalence was found in Indonesia, where 81 of 105 randomly selected children from a boarding school had scabies.…”

“…15,16,17,19,21,24,25,26,28,29,30,32,34,38,39,40,41,49,50,52,54,55,56 As Figure 2 shows, 17 studies were performed in Africa, 14,15,16,19,20,21,22,26,28,29,30,34,36,46,48,49,50,57 12 studies in Oceania, 27,33,35,37,39,42,43,44,45,53,56 and 12 studies in Asia .…”

“…The highest prevalence was found in Indonesia, where 81 of 105 randomly selected children from a boarding school had scabies. 41 With a described prevalence of 6 of 3265 participants, a study investigating three urban primary schools in western and northern F I G U R E 2 Contribution of scabies prevalence in selected populations between 2014 and 2022. Uganda showed the lowest scabies prevalence in children (Figure 3).…”