Prospective Surveillance of Primary Healthcare Presentations for Scabies and Bacterial Skin Infections in Fiji, 2018-2019
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 May 24:tpmd201459. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-1459. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTScabies, impetigo, and other skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are highly prevalent in many tropical, low-middle income settings, but information regarding their burden of disease is scarce. We conducted a surveillance of presentations of scabies and SSTIs, including impetigo, abscesses, cellulitis, and severe SSTI, to primary health facilities in Fiji. We established a monthly reporting system over the course of 50 weeks (July 2018-June 2019) for scabies and SSTIs at all 42 public primary health facilities in the Northern Division of Fiji (population, ≈131,914). For each case, information was collected regarding demographics, diagnosis, and treatment. There were 13,736 individual primary healthcare presentations with scabies, SSTI, or both (108.3 presentations per 1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 106.6-110 presentations). The incidence was higher for males than for females (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.15; 95% CI, 1.11-1.19). Children younger than 5 years had the highest incidence among all age groups (339.1 per 1000 person-years). The incidence was higher among the iTaukei (indigenous) population (159.9 per 1000 person-years) compared with Fijians of Indian descent (30.1 per 1000 person-years; IRR, 5.32; 95% CI, 5.03-5.61). Abscesses had the highest incidence (63.5 per 1,000 person-years), followed by scabies (28.7 per 1,000 person-years) and impetig...
Source: Am J Trop Med Hyg - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Li Jun Thean Lucia Romani Daniel Engelman Adam Jenney Handan Wand Jyotishna Mani Jessica Paka Rachel Devi Aalisha Sahukhan Mike Kama Meciusela Tuicakau Joseph Kado Natalie Carvalho Margot Whitfeld John Kaldor Andrew C Steer Source Type: research
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