Health
Scabies outbreak in UK linked to drug shortages, experts confirm: 'Progressively worse'
U.K. doctors are sounding the alarm about a surge in scabies cases across the country, according to reports.
A shortage of scabies medications — which dates as far back as May 2023 —is thought to be a contributing factor in the outbreak.
The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) confirmed to Fox News Digital on Friday that it’s received reports of scabies cases being on the rise, and that the current shortage of medicines is exacerbating the situation.
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“At the end of November, according to the Royal College of GPs, the rate of scabies was three cases per 100,000 of the population, which is double the seasonal average,” said Paula Geanau, a spokesperson for BAD.
“The situation in the U.K. is constantly changing, so it is difficult to say with certainty,” she added.
U.K. doctors are sounding the alarm about a surge in scabies cases across the country, according to reports. (iStock)
Outbreaks are more common in group living situations, although Geanau emphasized that anyone can get scabies.
“It is not a question of poor hygiene,” she said. “Because of the nature in which it spreads, via skin-to-skin contact, it disproportionately affects people in group living facilities, such as care homes and student accommodations.”
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Scabies is everywhere and is not just limited to the U.K., noted Dr. Susan Massick, a board-certified dermatologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
“There are always cases in the U.S. at any given time,” she told Fox News Digital. “Current cases that arise now in the U.S. are not related to the outbreaks in the U.K.”
What to know about scabies
Scabies is a rash that occurs when a tiny, eight-legged mite called Sarcoptes scabiei burrows into the skin, causing intense itching.
The disease is highly contagious, often spreading quickly through schools, households and nursing homes.
Scabies is a rash that occurs when a tiny, eight-legged mite called Sarcoptes scabiei burrows into the skin, causing intense itching. (iStock)
In addition to severe itching, a primary symptom is tiny blisters of bumps that form thin, wavy tunnels, according to Mayo Clinic.
Symptoms are usually delayed, appearing up to six weeks after exposure for those who have never had the infection.
People can spread scabies even if they don’t have symptoms.
“Scabies is different than bedbugs, but often equally itchy and difficult to eradicate,” Massick said.
“The itching gets progressively worse from week to week as new eggs hatch and the number of mites grows.”
“Scabies is different than bedbugs, but often equally itchy and difficult to eradicate.”
Scabies mites are microscopic and can’t be seen with the human eye, the doctor said — but the skin will react to the bites and become more and more inflamed, extremely itchy and often scab over due to the natural tendency to scratch.
Scabies is primarily spread through direct skin-to-skin contact, Massick said, but it can also easily be transmitted through clothing, furniture and bedding that contain the mites.
The two main treatments for scabies are permethrin 5% cream and malathion liquid, both of which are right now in limited supply in the U.K. (iStock)
“Cases continue to spread beyond the original person infected, and it is difficult to eradicate without appropriate treatment,” she noted.
People living in close quarters without access to routine clothes washers and dryers are most at risk of contracting scabies, she said — “a common scenario is a college dormitory,” Massick said.
To prevent contracting the disease, the doctor recommends avoiding direct contact or sharing of clothing, bedding and close quarters with those infected.
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For those who contract scabies, the mites can’t simply be washed away.
“Showering will not rid you of a scabies infestation — you need treatment,” Massick said. “Due to the life cycle of the scabies mites, with eggs hatching every five to seven days, you need to re-treat yourself one week after your initial treatment to ensure full eradication.”
It is possible to get re-infected even after treatment if you’re exposed again to the mites, the doctor said.
Scabies mites are microscopic and can’t be seen with the human eye, but the skin will react to the bites and become inflamed and itchy. (iStock)
There are multiple topical and oral treatments for scabies.
“Seek treatment if you suspect you have it, have been exposed or are experiencing unrelenting itching with accompanying rash,” Massick advised.
In addition to getting treatment, people should wash clothing, bedding, sheets, towels and pillows in hot water and dry them in a dryer, she said.
“The shortage of treatments for scabies is a major public health concern.”
“Mites can’t live off the human body for more than two or three days, so avoiding potential exposure from items like furniture that can’t be washed or put in a dryer is a possible way to avoid getting infected,” she told Fox News Digital. “Avoid communal areas and surfaces for at least three to five days.”
Geanau agreed that it’s vital to follow treatment protocols precisely.
In addition to getting treatment for scabies, people should wash clothing, bedding, sheets, towels and pillows in hot water and dry them in a dryer, an expert said. (iStock)
“As scabies is highly contagious, and spreads via skin-to-skin contact, if even one person in a group is still infected after completing a treatment plan, they can easily reinfect the rest of the group as well,” she warned.
“Reinfection is a quite common outcome, as treatments have to be followed to the letter, and everyone must be treated simultaneously.”
Drug shortages a factor in outbreak
The two main treatments for scabies are permethrin 5% cream and malathion liquid, both of which are in limited supply in the U.K.
In September 2023, BAD issued a press release urging manufacturers to ramp up production, warning that the shortages “pose a significant threat to public health” in light of the “highly contagious nature” of scabies.
A shortage of scabies medications, which dates as far back as May 2023, is thought to be a contributing factor in the current outbreak. (iStock)
“The shortage of treatments for scabies is a major public health concern,” said professor Mabs Chowdhury, president of BAD, in the release.
“This is a common condition, which is highly contagious,” he went on. “The ease with which it spreads highlights the urgency of maintaining an adequate supply of effective treatments.”
Chowdhury urged manufacturers of permethrin and malathion to do “everything in their power” to increase production.
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“We also call on regulators, such as the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and the government, to give the necessary support to manufacturers and suppliers to enable them to rapidly resolve the issue.”
BAD has been advised that more supplies of permethrin and malathion will become available early this year, Geanau noted. In the meantime, ivermectin has recently been licensed for the treatment of scabies, which is expected to help.
As scabies is highly contagious, and spreads via skin-to-skin contact, reinfection is common, experts warned. (iStock)
“We must ensure that an adequate supply of effective treatments is maintained,” Geanau added.
When contacted by Fox News Digital, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said it cannot comment on the shortage of permethrin and malathion, as it represents only the “newer, branded end of the U.K. medicines market,” which does not include “long-running generic medicines like permethrin and malathion.”
Fox News Digital also reached out to the U.K. Department of Health & Social Care requesting comment on the outbreak and shortages.
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Research conducted partly aboard the International Space Station (ISS) suggests that “microgravity” could help scientists fight drug-resistant superbugs, according to a report from SWNS.
Microgravity is the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless, NASA states.
Experiments by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison show that viruses and bacteria behave differently in near-weightless conditions. In space, they develop genetic changes not typically seen on Earth.
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Lead study author Dr. Phil Huss, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, noted that interactions between viruses that infect bacteria — known as phages — and their hosts play an “integral” role in how microbial ecosystems function, per the SWSN report.
Viruses that infect bacteria were still able to infect E. coli in space. However, the way those infections unfolded was different from what is typically observed on Earth.
E. coli is a group of bacteria that can live in the gut and are harmless most of the time, according to Cleveland Clinic. (iStock)
Bacteria and phages are often described as being locked in an evolutionary arms race, Huss said, with each side constantly adapting to outmaneuver the other.
“Microgravity is not just a slower or noisier version of Earth — it is a distinct physical and evolutionary environment,” researcher Srivatsan Raman, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the university, told Fox News Digital.
“Even in a very simple phage-bacteria system, microgravity altered infection dynamics and pushed both organisms down different evolutionary paths,” he added.
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While these interactions between bacteria and phages have been well-studied on Earth, few studies have examined them in space, where they can lead to different outcomes.
For the study, Huss and his colleagues compared two sets of E. coli samples infected with a phage known as T7. One set was incubated on Earth, while the other was grown aboard the ISS.
The ISS is a microgravity environment — where people and objects appear weightless. (NASA / SWNS)
The team found that after an initial slowdown, the T7 phage successfully infected E. coli in space. Genetic analysis later revealed clear differences in how both the bacteria and the virus mutated in space compared with how they behaved on Earth, per the report.
Huss said the phages grown aboard the space station developed mutations that could improve their ability to infect bacteria or attach to bacterial cells. At the same time, the E. coli grown in space developed mutations that could help them resist infection and survive better in near-weightless conditions.
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Raman said some of the findings were unexpected. In particular, he noted, microgravity led to mutations in parts of the phage genome that are not well-understood and are rarely seen in Earth-based experiments.
The E. coli grown in space developed mutations that could help them resist infection and survive better in near-weightless conditions. (iStock)
Researchers then used a technique called deep mutational scanning — a method that tracks how genetic changes affect function — to examine changes in the T7 receptor-binding protein, which plays a key role in infection.
Additional experiments on Earth linked those changes to increased effectiveness against E. coli strains that are normally resistant to T7.
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“Equally surprising was that phages shaped by microgravity could be more effective against terrestrial bacterial pathogens when brought back to Earth,” Raman told Fox News Digital.
“That result suggests microgravity can reveal combinations of mutations that are difficult to access through standard laboratory evolution, but [are] still highly relevant for real-world applications.”
“Microgravity is not just a slower or noisier version of Earth — it is a distinct physical and evolutionary environment.”
Huss said the findings could help address antibiotic-resistant infections, including urinary tract infections, which have been increasing in recent years.
“By studying those space-driven adaptations, we identified new biological insights that allowed us to engineer phages with far superior activity against drug-resistant pathogens back on Earth,” Huss told SWNS.
Study limitations
“Experiments on the ISS are constrained by small sample sizes, fixed hardware and scheduling constraints,” Raman noted. “Samples also experience freezing and long storage times, which can complicate interpretation.”
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He added that the research has broader implications.
“Studying microbes in space isn’t just about space biology,” Raman said. “These experiments can uncover new aspects of viral infection and microbial evolution that feed directly back into terrestrial problems, including antimicrobial resistance and phage therapy.”
Space should be treated as a discovery environment rather than a routine testing platform, one researcher said. (iStock)
He added that space should be treated as a discovery environment rather than a routine testing platform. The most effective approach, according to Raman, is to identify useful patterns and mutations in space and then study them carefully in Earth-based systems.
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Scientists also noted that the findings highlight how microbial ecosystems, like those associated with humans, could change during long space missions.
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“Understanding and anticipating those changes will be essential as space travel becomes longer, more routine and more biologically complex,” Raman said.
The findings were published in the journal PLOS Biology.
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A simple blood test may detect Crohn’s disease years before symptoms appear, according to a new study reported by SWNS.
Canadian researchers say the discovery could enable earlier diagnosis and potential prevention of the chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The test measures the immune system’s response to flagellin, a protein found in gut bacteria. Researchers found that this response is elevated in some people years before Crohn’s develops.
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The findings, published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, highlight the “interplay” between gut bacteria and immune system responses as a key step in the disease’s development, per the SWNS report.
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract that causes persistent digestive symptoms, pain and fatigue, significantly affecting quality of life. Its incidence among children has doubled since 1995, according to official figures.
Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes swelling and irritation of the tissues, called inflammation, in the digestive tract. (iStock)
The presence of flagellin antibodies long before symptoms appear suggests that the immune reaction may help trigger the disease, according to research leader Dr. Ken Croitoru, clinician-scientist and professor of medicine and immunology at the University of Toronto.
A better understanding of this early process could lead to improved prediction, prevention and treatment, the expert said.
“We haven’t cured anybody yet, and we need to do better.”
“With all the advanced biologic therapy we have today, patients’ responses are partial at best,” Croitoru told SWNS. “We haven’t cured anybody yet, and we need to do better.”
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“We wanted to know: Do people who are at risk, who are healthy now, have these antibodies against flagellin?” he said. “We looked, we measured, and yes indeed, at least some of them did.”
This new research is part of the Genetic, Environmental and Microbial (GEM) Project, which has followed more than 5,000 healthy first-degree relatives of people with Crohn’s disease worldwide since 2008. The project collects genetic, biological and environmental data to better understand how the disease develops.
The presence of flagellin antibodies long before symptoms appear suggests that the immune reaction may help trigger the disease, according to the lead researcher. (iStock)
The study followed 381 first-degree relatives of Crohn’s patients, 77 of whom later developed the disease. Of those, more than 30% had elevated antibody responses.
The responses were strongest in siblings, underscoring the role of shared environmental exposure, researchers said.
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So far, 130 of the study participants have developed Crohn’s, giving researchers a rare opportunity to study its earliest stages. The average time from blood sample collection to diagnosis was nearly 2-½ years.
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Previous GEM research showed that an inflammatory immune response targeting gut bacteria can appear long before the disease develops.
The study followed 381 first-degree relatives of Crohn’s patients, 77 of whom later developed the disease. (iStock)
In healthy people, gut bacteria coexist peacefully and play an essential role in digestive health — but in Crohn’s patients, the immune system appears to mount an abnormal response against the microbes, experts say.
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The Canadian team also confirmed that this pre-disease immune response was associated with intestinal inflammation and gut barrier dysfunction, both hallmarks of Crohn’s disease.
The study did have some limitations, including that it did not include experiments to show exactly how the immune response might lead to Crohn’s disease. (iStock)
Research team member Dr. Sun-Ho Lee, a gastroenterologist, commented that this new study supports the idea of designing a flagellin-directed vaccine for certain high-risk individuals to prevent the disease, according to SWNS.
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The study did have some limitations, including that it did not include experiments to show exactly how the immune response might lead to Crohn’s disease.
As a result, the researchers could not determine the biological steps linking the immune reaction to the onset of the illness. “Further validation and mechanistic studies are underway,” they noted.
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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A new study suggests that exercise can treat depression just as effectively as therapy and antidepressants.
A Cochrane review looked at 73 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 5,000 adults with a depression diagnosis. The studies compared exercise with either other active treatments — such as therapy or medication — or with “inactive interventions,” like being placed on a wait list or in a control group.
The London-based team discovered that exercise may be “moderately effective” compared to no therapy in reducing depression symptoms, according to a press release.
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“There is probably little to no difference in depressive symptoms between people undertaking exercise and those receiving psychological therapy,” the authors noted in a study discussion on Cochrane’s website, and “there may be little to no difference in depressive symptoms between people doing exercise and those taking antidepressants.”
The analysis discovered that exercise may be “moderately effective” compared to no therapy in reducing depression symptoms. (iStock)
The review found that light- to moderate-intensity exercise was more beneficial for easing depression symptoms than vigorous exercise.
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No single type of physical activity stood out as the best, but mixed programs that included resistance training appeared to be “more effective” than just aerobic exercise.
Some forms of exercise, like yoga and stretching, were not included in the analysis, but are areas to be further researched, the review noted.
Mixed exercise programs and resistance training appeared to be “more effective” in easing depression symptoms than just aerobic exercise. (iStock)
Professor Andrew Clegg, lead author of the review, wrote in a statement that exercise “appears to be a safe and accessible option for helping to manage symptoms of depression.”
“This suggests that exercise works well for some people, but not for everyone, and finding approaches that individuals are willing and able to maintain is important,” he said.
Study limitations and risks
The researchers noted that there was a high risk of bias in some of the studies included in the review, and noted that the long-term effects of exercise on depression symptoms remain uncertain.
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Clegg noted that “larger, high-quality studies” are needed to determine which types of exercise work best and whether the benefits last over time.
The comparison between exercise and other treatments and how they benefit people’s quality of life were also “inconsistent and uncertain.”
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“Adverse events from exercise were not common,” the researchers mentioned. “The small number of participants who experienced them usually reported muscle and joint problems or worsening of depression.”
About 21 million U.S. adults had at least one major depressive episode in a recent year — equivalent to roughly 8.3% of all U.S. adults, according to the National Institutes of Health. (iStock)
“Future research should focus on improving the quality of the studies, working out which characteristics of exercise are effective for different people, and ensuring different types of people are included in the studies so that health equity issues can be considered,” they went on.
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About 21 million U.S. adults had at least one major depressive episode in a recent year — equivalent to roughly 8.3% of all U.S. adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Depression symptoms include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, guilt or irritability, as well as loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities. Fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbances, appetite changes and social withdrawal are also red flags, in addition to thoughts about dying or suicidal ideations.
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The condition is most often treated by antidepressant medications and psychological therapies, such as talk therapy. Anyone who needs help should consult their doctor.
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