Abstract
Scabies is caused by infestation of Sarcoptes scabiei mites in the skin and is characterized by itching; scabies is transmitted by direct and prolonged skin contacts with infected individuals. Scabies is considered a public health problem in Palestine, and the disease is prevalent in all age groups and socioeconomic levels, and is distributed unevenly across all regions in the country. There were three scabies outbreaks in Palestine in the past 12 years, with the critical outbreak being linked to war on the Gaza Strip in 2014, where people were forced to leave their homes for safer but overcrowded places. The incidence of the disease does not show any difference between males and females. Better reporting of the disease and increased awareness, together with case-controlled studies, may lead to the identification of people at high risk and hence may improve the implementation of scabies prevention and control measures.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Ahmad Amro and Nuha Hijazi for the critical comments on the earlier version of this chapter.
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Hamarsheh, O. (2020). Epidemiology of Scabies in Palestine. In: Laher, I. (eds) Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_149-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_149-1
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