Scabies outbreak during home confinement due to the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic

Editor In response to the rapid spread of COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, governments introduced severe measures of home confinement and isolation of the population in an effort to prevent their health systems from collapsing. On March 14, with more than 4000 confirmed cases, 1 Spain began its nationwide lockdown which has extended for almost three months. In recent weeks, numerous articles have reported a wide range of skin symptoms of COVID-19, 2 but there are other dermatological conditions that may have been aggravated during this global pandemic. Scabies is a highly contagious skin infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei (variety hominis). In developed countries, scabies is usually observed sporadically or as institutional outbreaks in hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, long-term care facilities or in displaced persons and asylum seekers.3, 4 However, we have observed a significant increase of scabies cases in our region during the confinement period (March, April and May 2020) compared to the average for the same period during the previous five years (64 vs. 18.6 patients). ..