Expanded Molecular Typing of Sarcoptes scabiei Provides Further Evidence of Disease Spillover Events in the Epidemiology of Sarcoptic Mange in Australian Marsupials.

Abstract

The invasive ectoparasite Sarcoptes scabiei affects the welfare and conservation of Australian marsupials. Molecular data suggest that spillover from other hosts may be responsible for the emergence of this infectious disease, but the scale of such studies is limited. We performed expanded molecular typing of the S. scabiei mitochondrial cox1 gene from 81 skin scrapings from infested wombats ( Vombatus ursinus), koalas ( Phascolarctos cinereus), red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes), and dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris) across Australia. Combined with existing S. scabiei sequences, our analysis revealed 16 haplotypes among Australian animals, sharing between 93.3% and 99.7% sequence similarity. While som..