Research Focus
Scabies is one of the most common infectious skin disorders worldwide, particularly among children and in tropical regions. In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of remote northern Australia, scabies prevalence is high and there are extreme rates of scabies-associated streptococcal and staphylococcal infections.
Scabies mites are host-specific, ‘obligatory’ parasites without environmental reservoirs. Chemotherapy is the only way to combat scabies and its transmission in humans. There is no vaccine and the broad-spectrum anti-parasitic drugs available fail to control the disease.
Emerging mite resistance against leading drugs is of growing concern. Another problem is diagnosis. There are numerous skin conditions with similar symptoms but no reliable, simple methods to detect scabies. This makes efficient therapy, management and surveillance at individual, household and community levels very difficult.
Novel drugs and diagnostic tools to treat scabies are urgently needed. A central challenge is to comprehend mite biology and scabies pathogenesis, which are poorly understood, resulting in a lack of knowledge of specific drug targets in the parasite.
The Scabies Research Group is focused on understanding the molecular interactions of scabies mite molecules with host defense systems in the skin. The group, which has been working on scabies since the early 2000s, aims to develop new options for reducing scabies incidence and improving disease outcomes.
Gallery
Research Projects
Current Research Projects
Scabies in-vivo model
Novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets
Scabies-associated microbiota
Research Team
Sara Taylor
Simone Reynolds
Sri Sriprakash
Kira Fitzpatrick
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Dioraphte Foundation, Netherlands
Further Information
- O Chosidow, Hospital Henri Mondor, France
- B Currie, Royal Darwin Hospital
- K Mounsey, Sunshine Coast University
- R Gasser and T Wang, University of Melbourne
- M Jones, University of Queensland
- A Pandey, Johns Hopkins University
- T Darben, Dermatologist, North Qld
- J Guillot & F Botterel, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, France
- P Surase and N Surve, KEM Hospital Parel, Mumbai
- M Dekkers, QASP, University of Queensland
- G Hansman, Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Australia
- C Vestergaard, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- G Yosipovitch, University of Miami, USA
- S Mishra, North Carolina State University, USA
- V Bowles, University of Melbourne