Prevalence of scabies and pediculosis in Ghezel Hesar prison, Iran

Background pediculosis and scabies are infectious diseases that can spread in overcrowded places like prison, and pose a lot of sanitary difficulties in public places. objectives to determine the prevalence of these diseases in ghezel hesar prison in iran (male prison). patients and methods it was a descriptive study on 1404 prisoners in ghezel hesar prison in 2004. these prisoners were screened for scabies and pediculosis by two dermatologists results of 1404 prisoners, 31 (2.2%) were infested by scabies and 12 (0.9%) with body pediculosis. there were no cases of scalp and pubis pediculosis. all cases were male (male prison). all prisoners with scabies and 83% of the prisoners with pediculosis had intense pruritus. there was a significant relation between the duration of imprisonment and these diseases. pediculosis and scabies were more prevalent amongst new prisoners (p<0.001). similarly, scabies was more prevalent in overcrowded cells. in pediculosis group there were more addicted prisoners (p<0.01). conclusion we recommend that examining the new prisoners for scabies and pediculosis by a dermatologist or a trained doctor could help reduce the spread of these diseases