Clinical and molecular detection of Sarcoptes scabiei in the Iraqi camels

Abstract EN

Sarcoptes scabiei var cameli is the most frequent zoonotic species of mites causing mange in camels worldwide.

The prevalence of camel’s mange in Iraq is still little studied.

Thus, this research is conducted to detect S.

scabieiin camels in the four provinces of the Middle-Euphrates area: Al-Muthanna, Al-Diwaniyah, Najaf, and Babil, from January 2020 to December 2020.

The Molecular technique depending on the conventional polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) is performed for the direct detection of S.

scabiei based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COX1) gene from skin scrape lesion samples.

The results reveal that 125 out of 425 samples (29.41%) of the examined camels are infested with S.

scabiei.

According to the sex of the infested animals, the infestation rate was higher in females than in males, 85 (30.91 %) and 40 (26.67%) respectively.

In addition, the 1.5 year age shows the highest number of infestation (83 out of 85) with a percentage of 97.65%, but the percentages are 21 out of 60 (35%) and four out 68 (5.88%) in 2 and 7 years old animals, respectively.

The results also record that infested animals found in Najaf and Al-Diwaniyah have the highest number of infestations, with of 36% and 35%, respectively.

The findings also demonstrate that the highest infestation percentage is during the winter months (January and February), with of 92.31% and 80%, respectively.

The sequencing and phylogenetic analysis shows that the local isolates of the Iraqi camels are consistent with the isolates recorded in China.