Scab test could ease disease fears

The increasing prevalence of sheep scab in the UK flock is a major concern for many sheep farmers, but the development of a new diagnostic test for the disease could help ease those fears, according to Moredun researcher John Huntly.

“The new test, a blood test, has been shown in experimental infections to be capable of picking up infection within two weeks of infection. And it is a very specific test, so is able to distinguish between the immune response created by scab and other infections with similar symptoms, such as lice.”

In an unfortunate incident, one of Moredun’s own experimental flocks was infected with scab in 2009 by a sheep from a neighbouring flock. However, this gave scientists the perfect scenario to test the new Elisa test. “Blood samples had been taken from the flock prior to the outbreak and the prototype diagnostic test showed all samples were negative at that stage,” Mr Huntly says.

“Blood samples were taken once the infection was seen and the animals carefully examined for signs of scab. Only 15 of the 160 animals showed any symptoms, but the test showed a total of 106 of them contained antibodies indicative of a positive reaction.”

Moredun is now in discussions with a number of commercial organisations to determine how the test could be commercially developed, and work is also ongoing to investigate whether a penside dipstick test for scab could also be developed to provide a much more rapid test for the disease.