My wife and I were supposed to celebrate a milestone promotion in my finance career with a simple Caribbean cruise.

Instead, that trip became the start of a 14-month nightmare that eventually cost me my job and stripped away something basic: the ability to safely hug family without fear of spreading an infestation. The ability to feel comfortable in our own bodies.

Weeks after returning home in late 2024, my wife developed unmistakable signs of a skin infestation.

Soon after, I began experiencing the same symptoms.

A dermatologist confirmed our worst nightmare under the microscope: scabies.

The myth of the “quick fix”:

Most people believe scabies is a minor nuisance cured with a tube of cream or a pill. For many people it is. But for others—especially when treatment fails—it becomes a grinding cycle of symptoms, isolation, cleaning, reinfestation anxiety, and repeated medication.

Despite multiple rounds of standard treatments—including permethrin and ivermectin, and additional options—our infestation has persisted for over a year.

This is a global crisis hiding in plain sight.

Scabies is a WHO-recognized Neglected Tropical Disease and the burden is enormous: WHO estimates scabies affects 200+ million people at any time and 400+ million people every year. 

And the best available global burden analysis using GBD 2021 data estimated 622.5 million cases (incidence) in 2021—which is why “400–600 million per year” is not hype; it’s reality. 

Resistance is making today’s tools less reliable

We are also facing a growing treatment-failure / resistance problem.

Dermatology reporting on Dr. Ted Rosen’s clinical update notes: “Approximately 15% of scabies cases now exhibit resistance to permethrin, ivermectin, or both.” 

When first-line therapies fail, patients can be trapped in prolonged transmission loops that destroy quality of life, relationships, and careers.

What we’re asking for (clear, measurable action)

We call on global health leaders and funders to:

1. Launch a Scabies Vaccine Program (with timelines and milestones).
   Vaccine development is considered scientifically plausible and urgently needed due to resistance and limited tools.
   
   

2. Accelerate next-generation therapeutics

Invest in new drug classes and combination approaches designed to bypass resistance, shorten disease duration, and reduce reinfestation cycles.

3. Treat scabies like the public-health threat it is.

Expand surveillance, publish clearer guidance for persistent/refractory cases, and protect healthcare/social-care workers who face repeated exposure.

Why this matters:

No one should lose their job, their savings, their relationships, or the right to hold loved ones because of a highly contagious, parasitic disease that demands modern prevention and modern treatments.

Please sign this petition to demand the funding, research urgency, and coordinated vaccine/treatment pipeline the world desperately needs.

Sources:

• WHO Scabies fact sheet (200M+ affected at any time; 400M+ per year): https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/scabies

• PLOS NTD (GBD 2021; 622.5M incidence in 2021): https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0012775

• Dermatology Times (Dr. Ted Rosen; ~15% resistance to permethrin, ivermectin, or both): https://www.dermatologytimes.com/view/rising-antimicrobial-resistance-demands-new-strategies