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Bulletin No. 18 - Spring 2004
Parasitology- No Category
VERCRUYSSE J, PEELAERS I.
Toward a better diagnosis of swine scabies with a new antibody ELISA kit.
Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, March 6-9, 2004, Des Moines, Iowa, Abstract No. 107
Reliable and sensitive diagnosis of sarcoptic mange appears to be the main problem for adequate control and eradication programmes. Conclusive diagnosis of swine scabies is not always easy to obtain because of the minute size of the parasite and its intracutaneous localisation, in combination with non-specific clinical symptoms including pruritus. Recently, a new antibody ELISA kit designed to allow herd based testing for the presence of the mange mite in finisher pigs, was developed at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent, Belgium, based on free living mite as antigen source. The Ghent test outperforms two commercial tests in sensitivity and matches or betters the other performances in specificity. Meat extract samples offer the opportunity to reduce procurement costs compared to serum samples and increase sample availability as meat extract samples can be readily obtained during the harvest process. The ELISA kit on meat juice seems also to be a reliable source of antibodies to mange mites, which may also offer a reliable diagnostic tool to packing plants to determine if skin lesions seen on carcasses are due to S. scabiei. In addition, this test now allows veterinarians, packers and producers to identify early low levels or subclinical stages of mange infestation, often ignored and/or underestimated on a herd level.
