Changing Demographics and Prevalence of Body Lice among Homeless Persons, Marseille, France
Authors: Tran Duc Anh Ly
Clément Calloix
Sékéné Badiaga
Philippe Gautret
Didier Raoult
Hervé Tissot-Dupont
Philippe Brouqui
Youssoupha Touré
Journal: Emerging infectious diseases (2017)
Discipline: IMMUNOLOGY
Keywords: France; Homeless; North Africa; alcohol; alcoholism

Abstract:  The prevalence of body lice among 2,288 sheltered homeless persons in the city of Marseille during 2000-2017 was 12.2% and significantly decreased over time. We report a positive association between body lice infestations and older age, duration of stays in France for migrants, frequent consumption of alcohol, and tobacco smoking. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 In this study, a large number of homeless persons in Marseille were recruited (from 2000-2017) and examined for the presence of body lice. I have a question about the IRB approval for this study, since homeless persons might be considered to be a  vulnerable population (i.e., vulnerable to coercion), similar to veterans or prisoners in the US, although IRB rules might differ per country. Surprisingly, the IRB approval number listed in this paper (2010-A01406-33) is used for at least 17 studies, including this one. Although all of them involve homeless persons recruited from Marseille shelters, the studies themselves vary in terms of study protocols and treatment sample collection. The studies vary from collecting lice, treating subjects with drug-impregnated underwear, filling out questionnaires, medical exams, to nasal and pharyngeal sampling, skin swabbing, blood draw, rectal samples, sputum collection, and chest X rays. Moreover, the studies were performed from 2011 to 2020, spanning almost 10 years. Would the authors be willing to share the original 2010 ethical approval application here? Did they get approval for all these different studies spanning 10 years, in one single application? There is also confusion about which institution or ethical board approved the study. Some papers state that the study was approved by  our institutional review board , suggesting that this was a number referring to IRB approval by the Aix-Marseille Universitu00e9 and or Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Mu00e9diterranu00e9e Infection, both listed as author affiliations. But in other papers, the IRB approval number appears to be an ANSM RCB authorization ID, as per  Informed consent was obtained from these subjects, and the study was approved by the u2018u2018Comitu00e9 de Protection des Personnes Sud Mediterranu00e9eu2019u2019 on January, 12, 2011 (ID RCB: 2010-A01406-33) , e.g. as mentioned in PLoS ONE 8(2): e58088. Either way, it would be of interest to take away any concern whether studies on this vulnerable populations were all performed within the original IRB approval scope. Here is the list of 17 papers that all appear to share the same ethical approval number: * Rezak Drali et al. - Journal of Clinical Microbiology (2012) p. 2229u20132233 - DOI: 10.1128 JCM.00808-12 * Rezak Drali et al. - PLoS ONE 8(2): e58088 (2013) - DOI: 10.1371 journal.pone.0058088 * Samir Benkouiten et al. - JAMA Dermatol. 2014;150(3):273-279 (2014) - DOI: 10.1001 jamadermatol.2013.6398 * Rezak Drali et al - Infection, Genetics and Evolution 39 (2016) 225u2013231 - DOI: 10.1016 j.meegid.2016.02.008 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Emerging Infectious Diseases (2017) - DOI: 10.3201 eid2311.170516 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Clinical Microbiology and Infection 25 (2019) 249.e1e249.e6 - DOI: 10.1016 j.cmi.2018.04.032 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 9:86 (2019) - DOI: 10.3389 fcimb.2019.00086 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health (2019) - DOI: 10.2991 jegh.k.190510.001 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Infection and Drug Resistance 2019:12 1139u20131151 - DOI: 10.2147 IDR.S202048 * Nadia Amanzougaghene et al. - Parasites Vectors (2020) 13:177 - DOI: 10.1186 s13071-020-04036-y * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - European Journal of Clinical Microbiology Infectious Diseases (2020) - DOI: 10.1007 s10096-020-03889-6 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 36 (2020) 101768 - DOI: 10.1016 j.tmaid.2020.101768 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases (2020) - DOI: 10.1089 vbz.2019.2603 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica (2021) - DOI: 10.1556 030.2021.01346 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health (2021) - DOI: 10.2991 jegh.k.201009.001 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - Journal of Infection Volume 82, Issue 1, January 2021, Pages 60-66 - DOI: 10.1016 j.jinf.2020.11.026 * Tran Duc Anh Ly et al. - European Journal of Clinical Microbiology Infectious Diseases (2021) - DOI: 10.1007 s10096-020-04127-9 , 
 The scope of this paper is lices in homeless. The paper don t contain any competing interests section. However, according to a poster from the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire de Marseille (see below), 1 of the author seems to be the founders of a pharmaceutical company called Arthrobac Pharma. This pharmaceutical company is dedicated to the treatment of lice using ivermectin in combination with other products. Being a founder of a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the treatment of lice may be considered as a competing interest when the article addresses the lice in homeless. Can the authors explain if they still had any interest in this pharmaceutical company when the manuscript was submitted? ![Poster](http: backup.mediterranee-infection.com arkotheque client ihumed _depot_arko articles 579 poster_img.jpg) ,