CLINICAL PICTURE AND ANTIBODY-RESPONSE TO EXPERIMENTAL SARCOPTES-SCABIEI VAR VULPES INFECTION IN RED FOXES (VULPES-VULPES)

Three red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were experimentally infected with Sarc optes scabiei isolated from a naturally infected wild red fox. A fourt h red fox served as a control. The first signs of sarcoptic mange beca me evident on the 31st day post infection (dpi). The signs gradually i ncreased thereafter and between dpi 49 and 77 characteristic lesions o f hyperkeratosis developed. Two of the infected foxes developed severe sarcoptic mange, and one of these animals died on dpi 121. The third fox developed a chronic hyperkeratotic lesion on its back, at the site where the mites had been applied. On dpi 127 the surviving foxes were treated systemically with ivermectin, and within 4 weeks the skin les ions had healed except on the pinnae of one animal. Antibodies to S. s cabiei var. vulpes were demonstrated in the infected foxes by an ELISA with which seroconversion was seen around 4 weeks post infection (wpi ). Western blot analysis of sequential sera of the infected animals de monstrated antibody activity consistently after the 2nd wpi. The fourt h, non-infected, fox did not show any skin lesions throughout the expe rimental period nor any specific antibodies to S. scabiei var. vulpes.