Nominated by: Adam Cuerden on 2008-04-03 13:31 (UTC)
Scope: Norwegian scabies, an extreme form of scabies infection.
Used in: en:Scabies, only recently copied to commons.
Oppose This is for sure a very strong image! However, the question is if it is also a VI? First of all, is the scope of sufficient interest to be valuable in itself? Norwegian scabies is a severe variant of scabies, which especially effects people with compromised immune systems, like in this case an AIDS patient. The desease is very infectious. I read here that 60% of persons who come into direct or indirect contact with an infected person acquires scabies. My wife (who is a GP) also tells me that (at least in Denmark) scabies as such is a growing problem in hospitals, where small outbreaks occur from time to time and are hard to get rid of. So at such I think the scope "Norwegian scabies" is of sufficiently wide interest for WMF project to warrant a VI if this is suitable. Next I have searched some on the web for images of this crusted variant of scabies like [1], [2], and [3]. On comparing them with the nominated image it seems for me that the nomination does not represent a typical manifestation of the infection. Rather it is an extremely severe case of the already extreme variant of scabies. Thus, I do not find that the image illustrates the subject well as it seems to be a very atypical example. In addition the image is not categorized and certainly some more details on the image page would be nice. Finally, I am a little bit concerned about the ethics in showing the image. Has the affected patient been asked if it is OK to publish a photo of his very severe skin desease in the public domain? I think that in this particular case the infection manifest itself so severly that there is a risk the individual can be identified. For me the image is more terrifying than valuable. -- Slaunger20:24, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment After a good nights sleep, here is another aspect: If the scope was narrowed down to "Fully developed and untreated Norwegian scabies", I would say the image is a good candidate (if properly categorized). However, for me this is a too narrow scope to be of sufficient interest to WMF projects. So the conclusion is the same. -- Slaunger06:27, 4 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]