Toward the Global Control of Human Scabies: Introducing the International Alliance for the Control of Scabies

Scabies, the human skin disease caused by infestation by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis, causes considerable morbidity and mortality through direct effects and as a result of secondary bacterial infection. Scabies is a truly neglected disease, largely absent from the global health agenda, and its huge burden of disease is largely underappreciated. We contend that coordinated, global efforts to control this ubiquitous pathogenic mite are both important and achievable

Complications of scabies infestation.

<p>Complications of scabies infestation.</p

Hand of an adolescent girl in Fiji, demonstrating scabies infestation with typical secondary bacterial infection.

<p>Hand of an adolescent girl in Fiji, demonstrating scabies infestation with typical secondary bacterial infection.</p