The assessment of epidemiologic aspects of scabies in Iran’s Army during 2004 to 2010

  Purpose: Scabies is a parasitic disease with nocturnal itching and cutaneous lesions. It spreads   by physical contact and it occurs mostly in crowded places. Because of their occupation, military   personnel have to live in garrisons and camps. So the prevalence of scabies is higher in military   systems. Hence, this study evaluated the epidemiology of scabies in Iran’s Army.   Materials and Methods: This retrospective research studied the cumulative incidence rate   of scabies in Iran’s Army during years 2004-2010. The data were gathered from Preventive   Medicine Department of AJA University of Medical Sciences. Any military person with confirmed   diagnosis of scabies by the center physician was included in the study.   Results: In this 7-year study total number of reported scabies was 5277 cases. Most of them   had occurred in spring and summer. More than 50% were from Hormozgan province. Guilan   and Mazandaran provinces were in the second and third stand. The least were from Lorestan,   Hamedan, West Azerbaijan and Zanjan provinces. About 62% of cases belonged to Navy.   Conclusion: Although t he overall trend of scabies in Iran’s Army has been declining in recent   years, it is still a common problem in warm and humid provinces and among Navy personnel.   Since scabies is a reliable indicator of public health status, it seems that there is a need for   more healthcare facilities and more resource allocation particularly in warm seasons of the year   to reduce this disease among the military personnel.