Detection of serum antibodies to sarcoptic mange mite antigens by the passive hemagglutination assay in pigs infested with Sarcoptes scabiei var. suis.

Development and remission of the clinical signs of sarcoptic mange in pigs experimentally infested once and twice with Sarcoptes scabiei var. suis were described. Encrusted lesions in the ears of pigs and a general dermatitis were observed 3 weeks after infestation, but subsided gradually. Specific antibody activity, in titers averaging 1:16 000 in sera from rabbits immunized with mite extracts and 1:512 in the serum from a pig artificially infested with sarcoptic manage and then twice immunized with mite extract, was detected with the passive hemagglutination assay with tanned bovine red blood cells. Titers ranging from 1:40 to 1:160 were detected in sera from experimentally-infested animals. Only 3 of 75 sera from chronically naturally-infested pigs exhibited antibody titers of 1:40 to the mite extract.