You are currently viewing an older version of this article. A new version is available. Scabies is an important predisposing factor for impetigo but its role in more serious skin and soft tissue infections SSTIs is not well understood. Information is limited on incidence of SSTIs in the presence of endemic scabies.
Information was collected on demographic characteristics, clinical features, microbiology, treatment and outcomes. Incidence was 1. Overall case fatality rate was 3. Scabies was diagnosed concurrently in 7. There is a very high burden of hospital admissions for SSTIs in Fiji compared to high-income settings especially among the youngest, oldest and indigenous population which is concordant with scabies and impetigo distribution in this population.
Our findings highlight the need for strategies to reduce the burden of SSTIs in Fiji and similar settings. Scabies is causally linked to impetigo in endemic populations.
In turn, impetigo can progress to more serious skin and soft tissue infections SSTI. However, there are few data on the epidemiology of SSTIs in settings where scabies is endemic. We conducted a prospective study of the incidence of hospitalizations for SSTIs in and at the referral centre for the Northern Division of Fiji population of , where community scabies prevalence is very high.
We measured the incidence of admissions for abscesses, cellulitis, impetigo, wound infections, pyomyositis, necrotizing fasciitis and crusted scabies. We observed a high incidence of SSTI admissions cases per , person-years with high associated morbidity and case fatality in this population.
