Estimation of the epidemiological characteristics of scabies.

ABSTRACT: Scabies is a contagious skin disease caused by Sarcoptes scabiei mite infestation, affecting 400 million people worldwide. Despite this global burden and rising European incidence, fundamental epidemiological characteristics remain unknown. We analyzed symptom onset data from four scabies outbreaks to estimate serial interval. We used surveillance data from the Netherlands (2011-2023) to estimate growth rate and basic and time-varying reproduction numbers. We developed the R package {mitey} which implements the methods used to estimate the serial interval and time-varying reproduction number. Serial interval estimates ranged from 98-167 days with a pooled estimate of 123 days (95% CI: 91, 153). We estimated an annual growth rate of 0.25 (95% CI: 0.20, 0.30) cases per 1000 people and basic

SUBMITTER: Ainslie KEC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12658204 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature