Skip to main content
  • ASM
    • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology
    • Clinical Microbiology Reviews
    • Clinical and Vaccine Immunology
    • EcoSal Plus
    • Eukaryotic Cell
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Journal of Bacteriology
    • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
    • Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
    • Journal of Virology
    • mBio
    • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
    • Microbiology Resource Announcements
    • Microbiology Spectrum
    • Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • mSphere
    • mSystems
  • Log in
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Latest Articles
    • COVID-19 Special Collection
    • Archive
  • For Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Scope
    • Editorial Policy
    • Submission, Review, & Publication Processes
    • Organization and Format
    • Errata, Author Corrections
    • Illustrations and Tables
    • Nomenclature
    • Abbreviations and Conventions
    • Ethics Resources and Policies
  • About the Journal
    • About CMR
    • Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Board
    • For Reviewers
    • For the Media
    • For Librarians
    • For Advertisers
    • Alerts
    • RSS
    • FAQ
  • Subscribe
    • Members
    • Institutions
  • ASM
    • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology
    • Clinical Microbiology Reviews
    • Clinical and Vaccine Immunology
    • EcoSal Plus
    • Eukaryotic Cell
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Journal of Bacteriology
    • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
    • Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
    • Journal of Virology
    • mBio
    • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
    • Microbiology Resource Announcements
    • Microbiology Spectrum
    • Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • mSphere
    • mSystems

User menu

  • Log in
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Clinical Microbiology Reviews
publisher-logosite-logo

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Latest Articles
    • COVID-19 Special Collection
    • Archive
  • For Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Scope
    • Editorial Policy
    • Submission, Review, & Publication Processes
    • Organization and Format
    • Errata, Author Corrections
    • Illustrations and Tables
    • Nomenclature
    • Abbreviations and Conventions
    • Ethics Resources and Policies
  • About the Journal
    • About CMR
    • Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Board
    • For Reviewers
    • For the Media
    • For Librarians
    • For Advertisers
    • Alerts
    • RSS
    • FAQ
  • Subscribe
    • Members
    • Institutions
Review

Problems in Diagnosing Scabies, a Global Disease in Human and Animal Populations

Shelley F. Walton, Bart J. Currie
Shelley F. Walton
1Menzies School of Health Research
2Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: Shelley.Walton@menzies.edu.au
Bart J. Currie
1Menzies School of Health Research
2Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University
3Northern Territory Clinical School, Flinders University and Department of Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Australia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00042-06
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

SUMMARY

SUMMARY Scabies is a worldwide disease and a major public health problem in many developing countries, related primarily to poverty and overcrowding. In remote Aboriginal communities in northern Australia, prevalences of up to 50% among children have been described, despite the availability of effective chemotherapy. Sarcoptic mange is also an important veterinary disease engendering significant morbidity and mortality in wild, domestic, and farmed animals. Scabies is caused by the ectoparasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei burrowing into the host epidermis. Clinical symptoms include intensely itchy lesions that often are a precursor to secondary bacterial pyoderma, septicemia, and, in humans, poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis. Although diagnosed scabies cases can be successfully treated, the rash of the primary infestation takes 4 to 6 weeks to develop, and thus, transmission to others often occurs prior to therapy. In humans, the symptoms of scabies infestations can mimic other dermatological skin diseases, and traditional tests to diagnose scabies are less than 50% accurate. To aid early identification of disease and thus treatment, a simple, cheap, sensitive, and specific test for routine diagnosis of active scabies is essential. Recent developments leading to the expression and purification of S. scabiei recombinant antigens have identified a number of molecules with diagnostic potential, and current studies include the investigation and assessment of the accuracy of these recombinant proteins in identifying antibodies in individuals with active scabies and in differentiating those with past exposure. Early identification of disease will enable selective treatment of those affected, reduce transmission and the requirement for mass treatment, limit the potential for escalating mite resistance, and provide another means of controlling scabies in populations in areas of endemicity.

  • Copyright © 2007 American Society for Microbiology
View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top
Download PDF
Citation Tools
Problems in Diagnosing Scabies, a Global Disease in Human and Animal Populations
Shelley F. Walton, Bart J. Currie
Clinical Microbiology Reviews Apr 2007, 20 (2) 268-279; DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00042-06

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Print

Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email

Thank you for sharing this Clinical Microbiology Reviews article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Problems in Diagnosing Scabies, a Global Disease in Human and Animal Populations
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Clinical Microbiology Reviews
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Clinical Microbiology Reviews.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Problems in Diagnosing Scabies, a Global Disease in Human and Animal Populations
Shelley F. Walton, Bart J. Currie
Clinical Microbiology Reviews Apr 2007, 20 (2) 268-279; DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00042-06
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Top
  • Article
    • SUMMARY
    • INTRODUCTION
    • BIOLOGY
    • EPIDEMIOLOGY
    • CLINICAL FEATURES
    • ANIMAL SCABIES
    • HOST IMMUNE RESPONSE
    • TREATMENT
    • DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
    • S. SCABIEI GENE DISCOVERY
    • CONCLUSIONS
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

KEYWORDS

Sarcoptes scabiei
Scabies

Related Articles

Cited By...

About

  • About CMR
  • Editor in Chief
  • Editorial Board
  • Policies
  • For the Media
  • For Librarians
  • For Advertisers
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • FAQ
  • Permissions
  • Journal Announcements

Authors

  • ASM Author Center
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Ethics
  • Contact Us

Follow #ClinMicroRev

@ASMicrobiology

       

ASM Journals

ASM journals are the most prominent publications in the field, delivering up-to-date and authoritative coverage of both basic and clinical microbiology.

About ASM | Contact Us | Press Room

 

ASM is a member of

Scientific Society Publisher Alliance

 

American Society for Microbiology
1752 N St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 737-3600

Copyright © 2021 American Society for Microbiology | Privacy Policy | Website feedback

Print ISSN: 0893-8512; Online ISSN: 1098-6618