A case report of medical laboratory confirmation of suspected scabies outbreak at Daara Madina Suwaneh, a quranic school located in Brufut Heights, The Gambia, 2025
Abdoulie M. Sanyang, Modou Colley, Lamin Sanneh, Mustapha Baldeh, Kebba Jadama, Abou Kebbeh, Alphonse Mendy, Saikou Maffuge Fatajo, Sheriffo Jagne, Amadou Woury Jallow, Momodou Nyassi, Bakary Sanneh

TL;DR
This case report confirms a scabies outbreak in a Gambian Quranic school using a simple lab test, highlighting challenges in diagnosis and the need for better diagnostic tools in low-resource areas.
Contribution
The study provides a real-world example of scabies outbreak confirmation in a resource-limited setting using a low-cost diagnostic method.
Findings
Only one out of 13 cases tested positive for scabies using the saline mount technique.
The most common affected body sites were hands and knees in 38.5% of cases.
Treatment with 10% Benzyl Benzoate lotion led to full recovery in all cases.
Abstract
Scabies is a high-burden neglected tropical disease, particularly in crowded, resource-limited settings, where children are disproportionately affected. Confirmation of scabies includes the use of clinical diagnosis supported by laboratory confirmation. This study was conducted to provide a laboratory confirmation for a clinically suspected scabies outbreak. Skin scrapings were collected from 13 clinically suspected cases and transported to the National Public Health Laboratories. Samples were processed using the simple saline mount technique. A case was considered positive when a mite, egg, or fecal pellet was identified with microscopy. A suspected scabies outbreak was reported from Daara Madina Suwaneh, a quranic boarding school located in Brufut Heights in the West Coast Region. A team from the Ministry of Health was deployed to confirm the scabies outbreak. A total of 13 male…
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Taxonomy
TopicsDermatological diseases and infestations · Parasites and Host Interactions · Forensic Entomology and Diptera Studies
