Development of a serodiagnostic test for sheep scab using recombinant protein Pso o 2

Early stages of sheep scab, the disease caused by the non-burrowing mite Psoroptes ovis, are often sub-clinical, or can be mis-diagnosed. A diagnostic test capable of detecting early disease and latent infestations is therefore highly desirable in disease control. This paper describes the design and validation of an ELISA, which incorporates a recombinant P. ovis antigen (Pso o 2), for the early detection of anti-P. ovis serum antibodies in sheep. This ELISA was evaluated using sera from sheep infested with P. ovis (n = 58) and sheep (n = 433) with no P. ovis infestation as well as sheep infected with other parasites including gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN), or chewing lice. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was generated using the ELISA results for 491 sheep sera with the area under the curve (AUC) being 0.97. An optimal OD(450) cut-off of >0.06 absorbance units gave a test sensitivity of 0.93 and specificity of 0.90. The Pso o 2-based ELISA was able to detect specific antibodies to P. ovis during early experimental infestation prior to disease patency, indicating its utility for detecting sub-clinical infestation.