Host immune responses to the itch mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, in humans

Abstract

Scabies is a parasitic disease due to infestation of skin by the burrowing mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Scabies is a major public health problem and endemic in resource poor communities worldwide affecting over 100 million people. Associated bacterial infections cause substantial morbidity, and in severe cases can lead to renal and cardiac diseases. Mite infestation of the skin causes localised cutaneous inflammation, pruritus, skin lesions, and allergic and inflammatory responses are mounted by the host against the mite and its products. Our current understanding of the immune and inflammatory responses associated with the clinical manifestations in scabies is far outweighed by the significant global impact of the disease. This review aims to provide a better understanding of human immune responses to S. scabiei in ordinary and crusted scabies phenotypes.

Identification of High-Risk Pregnancies in a Remote Setting Using Ambulatory Blood Pressure: The MINDI Cohort

“…First, in these same pregnant women, CRP was shown to be negatively associated with Ascaris but positively associated with hookworm (32), suggesting that Ascaris exerted an anti-inflammatory influence whereas hookworm induced a pro-inflammatory response. Second, intestinal nematodes including Ascaris (80), scabies mites (81), and Trichomonas vaginalis (82,83) are able to modulate the host immune response with production of classical Th2 cytokines, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13, mastocytosis, eosinophilia, IgE, and alternatively-activated macrophages known to play a critical role in tissue repair (84). In contrast, hookworm releases molecules that downregulate the strong Th2 response through a mixed Th2/Th1 response with elevation of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α (85-87) similar to the pro-inflammatory response observed in response to chronic low dose infection of mice with Trichuris muris (88).…”

Possible roles of basophils in chronic itch

“…Scabies is a parasitic skin disease caused by Sarcoptes scabiei and is characterized by severe itch . The mechanisms of itch in scabies are unclear, but likely involve the immune response . A large number of basophils infiltrate the lesional skin of scabies .…”

Population‐scale treatment informs solutions for control of environmentally transmitted wildlife disease

“…Treatment regimes of both human and animal populations are generally successful in reducing disease prevalence (Gakuya et al, 2012;Leone, 2007), but often fail to eradicate the mite outside of highly controlled scenarios (see León-Vizcaíno et al, 2001;Menzano, Rambozzi, & Rossi, 2007). Population-scale management of S. scabiei in wildlife is largely limited by the poorly understood environmental components of transmission (Arlian, Estes, & Vyszenski-Moher, 1988;Arlian, Vyszenski-Moher, & Pole, 1989), variable host immunity to the parasite influencing reinfection (Bhat, Mounsey, Liu, & Walton, 2017;Little et al, 1998) and the risk of mite resistance with prolonged or widespread parasiticide usage (Mounsey & McCarthy, 2013).…”