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PCR-BASED ASSAY TO SURVEY FOR KNOCKDOWN RESISTANCE TO PYRETHROID ACARICIDES IN HUMAN SCABIES MITES (SARCOPTES SCABIEI VAR HOMINIS)

Permethrin, in the form of a topical cream, is being increasingly used for community-based programs to control endemic scabies. The development of resistance has reduced the use of pyrethroids for the control of many arthropods of economic and health importance. The best recognized form of pyrethroid resistance, known as knockdown resistance or kdr, has been linked to specific mutations in the target of these agents, the para-homologous voltage-sensitive sodium channel gene (Vssc). To develop tools to study resistance to pyrethroid acaricides, we cloned 3711 and 6151 bp, respectively, of cDNA and genomic fragments of the Vssc gene from scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabiei. The sequence encompasses the major polymorphic amino acid residues associated with pyrethroid resistance. A polymerase chain reaction–based strategy has been developed that enables genotyping individual scabies mites. This will facilitate early detection and monitoring of pyrethroid resistance in scabies mite populations under drug selection pressure.

Received June 6, 2005. Accepted for publication December 8, 2005.

Acknowledgments: The authors thank Professor David Kemp for sharing the S. scabiei var hominis cDNA library and for support of K. Fischer under his Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) program Grant 290208, Dr. J. G. Mattsson of the National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden, for sharing the S. scabiei var vulpes cDNA library, and Professor Bart Currie from the Menzies School of Health Research.

Financial support: This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (Grant 288301) and Australian Centre for Tropical Health and Nutrition (ACITHN), University of Queensland, Australia.

^* Address correspondence to Cielo Pasay, Clinical Tropical Medicine Laboratory, Infectious Diseases and Immunology Division, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia. E-mail: cielop{at}qimr.edu.au

Authors’ addresses: Cielo Pasay, Katja Fischer, and James Mc Carthy, Queensland Institute of Medical Research and Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, University of Queensland, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia. Shelley Walton and Deborah Holt, Menzies School of Health Research, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, Darwin NT 0811, Australia and Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Reprint requests: Cielo Pasay, Clinical Tropical Medicine Laboratory, Infectious Diseases and Immunology Division, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia. E-mail: cieloP{at}qimr.edu.au.