<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This study was conducted to estimate the incidence and the effects of associated risk factors of scabies and head lice on displaced people in Cham Mishko camp, Zakho city, Duhok Province, Iraq. The study included 1300 internally displaced people (IDPs) who visited the dermatology clinic and health care center in Cham Mishko camp from January 2018 to December 2019. Participants’ bio-information was collected on special questionnaire form after receiving permission from the camp’s health authorities and verbal consent from the participants. Monthly weather data were collected from Duhok Directorate of Meteorology and Seismology. The total rate of ectoparasites was 81.2% (45% for scabies and 36.2% for head lice). Ages from 1–10, 21–30, and 31–40 years showed the highest rates with scabies (48.1%, 46.7% and 46.1%, respectively), while the highest rates of head pediculosis were at ages from 1–10 and 11–20 years (40% and 36.6%, respectively). Scabies rate was slightly higher in males than females (46.6% vs. 43.4%), while the rate of head pediculosis was significantly higher in females than males (58.2% vs. 13.9%). Families with more than ten people showed the highest rates of scabies and head pediculosis (49.5% and 74.5%). Scabies was more common in cold months than in summer while head pediculosis was more common in hot months. The number of scabies and head pediculosis cases increased by 123 and 85 cases, respectively, in 2019. It is inferred that the effects of scabies and head pediculosis in IDPs will be considerable, with a higher carriage rate than other studies in Iraq.</p></abstract>

This study was conducted to estimate the incidence and the effects of associated risk factors of scabies and head lice on displaced people in Cham Mishko camp, Zakho city, Duhok Province, Iraq. The study included 1300 internally displaced people (IDPs) who visited the dermatology clinic and health care center in Cham Mishko camp from January 2018 to December 2019. Participants’ bio-information was collected on special questionnaire form after receiving permission from the camp’s health authorities and verbal consent from the participants. Monthly weather data were collected from Duhok Directorate of Meteorology and Seismology. The total rate of ectoparasites was 81.2% (45% for scabies and 36.2% for head lice). Ages from 1–10, 21–30, and 31–40 years showed the highest rates with scabies (48.1%, 46.7% and 46.1%, respectively), while the highest rates of head pediculosis were at ages from 1–10 and 11–20 years (40% and 36.6%, respectively). Scabies rate was slightly higher in males than females (46.6% vs. 43.4%), while the rate of head pediculosis was significantly higher in females than males (58.2% vs. 13.9%). Families with more than ten people showed the highest rates of scabies and head pediculosis (49.5% and 74.5%). Scabies was more common in cold months than in summer while head pediculosis was more common in hot months. The number of scabies and head pediculosis cases increased by 123 and 85 cases, respectively, in 2019. It is inferred that the effects of scabies and head pediculosis in IDPs will be considerable, with a higher carriage rate than other studies in Iraq.

The Incidence of Scabies and Head Lice and Their Associated Risk Factors among Displaced People in Cham Mishko Camp, Zakho City, Duhok Province, Iraq

Polish Journal of Microbiology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This study was conducted to estimate the incidence and the effects of associated risk factors of scabies and head lice on displaced people in Cham Mishko camp,...

		Head pediculosis infestation
Variables		Number of infestation/totals	%	p-value
Gender	Male	90/646	13.9	0.000
Gender	Female	381/654	58.2	0.000
Age (years)	1-10	270/675	40	0.033
	11-20	37/101	36.6
	21-30	24/75	32
	31-40	34/130	26.1
	41-50	57/180	31.6
	50⁺	49/139	35.2
Family members	1-5	109/533	20.4	0.000
	6-10	198/547	36.1
	10⁺	164/220	74.5
Total		471/1300	36.2

		Scabies infestation
Variables		Number of infestation/totals	%	p-value
Gender	Male	301/646	46.6	0.251
Gender	Female	284/654	43.4	0.251
Age (years)	1-10	325/675	48.1	0.018
	11-20	41/101	40.6
	21-30	35/75	46.7
	31-40	60/130	46.1
	41-50	80/180	44.4
	50⁺	44/139	31.6
Family members	1-5	216/533	40.5	0.023
	6-10	260/547	47.5
	10⁺	109/220	49.5
Total		585/1300	45

The Incidence of Scabies and Head Lice and Their Associated Risk Factors among Displaced People in Cham Mishko Camp, Zakho City, Duhok Province, Iraq

Article Category: original-paper

Published Online: Dec 27, 2020

Page range: 463 - 469

Received: Sep 07, 2020

Accepted: Nov 20, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2020-050

Keywords
scabies, pediculosis, infestation, displacement, climate, Iraq

© 2020 Mohammad I. Alberfkani et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Prevalence of head pediculosis in 1300 IDPs.

Prevalence of scabies infestation among 1300 IDPs.

The Incidence of Scabies and Head Lice and Their Associated Risk Factors among Displaced People in Cham Mishko Camp, Zakho City, Duhok Province, Iraq

Article Category: original-paper

Published Online: Dec 27, 2020

Page range: 463 - 469

Received: Sep 07, 2020

Accepted: Nov 20, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2020-050

Keywordsscabies, pediculosis, infestation, displacement, climate, Iraq

© 2020 Mohammad I. Alberfkani et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Prevalence of head pediculosis in 1300 IDPs.

Prevalence of scabies infestation among 1300 IDPs.

Keywords
scabies, pediculosis, infestation, displacement, climate, Iraq