Scabies is an ancient disease (documented as far back as 2500 years ago). It affects about 300 million people annually worldwide, and the prevalence is as high as about 60 % in Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia. This is more than six times the rate seen in the rest of the developed world. Scabies is frequently complicated by bacterial infection leading to the development of skin sores and other more serious consequences such as septicaemia and chronic heart and kidney diseases. This causes a substantial social and economic burden especially in resource poor communities around the world.
Very few treatment options are currently available for the management of scabies infection. In this manuscript we briefly discuss the clinical consequences of scabies and the problems found (studies conducted in Australia) with the currently used topical and oral treatments. Current scabies treatment options are fairly ineffective in preventing treatment relapse, inflammatory skin reactions and associated bacterial skin infections. None have ovicidal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and/or anti-pruritic properties. Treatments which are currently available for scabies can be problematic with adverse effects and perhaps of greater concern the risk of treatment failure. The development of new chemical entities is doubtful in the near future. Though there may be potential for immunological control, the development of a vaccine or other immunotherapy modalities may be decades away. The emergence of resistance among scabies mites to classical scabicides and ineffectiveness of current treatments (in reducing inflammatory skin reactions and secondary bacterial infections associated with scabies), raise serious concerns regarding current therapy. Treatment adherence difficulties, and safety and efficacy uncertainties in the young and elderly, all signal the need to identify new treatments for scabies.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
8
4%
Immunology and Microbiology
6
3%
Other
22
10%
Unknown
90
39%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 48. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 November 2025.
All research outputs
#1,072,099
of 32,824,291 outputs
Outputs from BMC Infectious Diseases
#281
of 10,203 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#10,315
of 295,868 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Infectious Diseases
#4
of 122 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,824,291 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 10,203 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 295,868 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 122 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
