Scabies outbreak among Spanish troops in Ceuta: around ten cases

Scabies among soldiers in Ceuta: an awkward outbreak amid the migration crisis

Around ten soldiers from the contingent deployed in Ceuta have contracted scabies. Defence Ministry sources confirmed it to EFE on 17 August, with a caveat: the cases need not be related to the migration crisis. The clarification is not innocent.

The Spanish Troops and Sailors Association (ATME) had already warned. Before the outbreak, it alerted to the possible emergence of contagious diseases among the deployed personnel. The warning had grounds.

The 191% figure that puts everything in context

Irregular migrant arrivals in Ceuta have risen 191% compared with 2025, not counting the mass entry in July. Against that backdrop, the debate over the origin of the infections has jumped from the barracks to the political trenches.

Scabies is a mite, not an ideology, but in the debate it has ended up being used as a weapon. It has been blamed on people in reception, on the poor hygiene of Ceuta's residents, and even on the handling of the Madrid regional president in the face of a hypothetical larger epidemic. The official version says there is no proven link; the irony answers with the phrase "these things happen", put in the mouth of the Interior Minister.

Meanwhile, data are lacking: no concrete health measures, no update on the rest of the contingent. The unsettling figure is that the confirmed infections number around ten, while the theories are far too many. Nobody seems interested in the mite.