In-vivo culture and genetic identification of Sarcoptes scabiei from human isolate using cox1 gene

Scabies is a highly contagious skin disease caused by infestation of Sarcoptes scabiei mite. The host range of S. scabiei is extremely broad. S. scabiei is a skin-infesting ectoparasite of mammals, including human, domestic, and also wild animals. Antigen detection tests could serve as a potential alternative method for diagnosing scabies, but the availability of the antigen hinder further development. The mites could not be cultured using in-vitro media. S. scabiei showed non-specific interaction with the host. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 ( cox1 or COI ) is a mitochondrial gene which is widely used as molecular marker for classification in animal species, including S. scabiei . Finding showed that S. scabiei isolated from human could infest and cultured in-vivo using rabbit. Rabbit used in the in-vivo culture of the mites showed heavy crust development after 3 weeks of mites infestation. Phylogenetic analysis with maximum-likelihood using cox-1 generates 2 branches, with the value of 74% and 45%. S. scabiei harvested from in-vivo culture showed genetic relation with S. scabiei isolated from different host, including human, dog, and rabbit from different geographic area. Our present finding showed S. scabiei isolated from human could be cultured in rabbit, thus provides alternative source of antigen for further development of scabies diagnostic test.