Bernigaud C

Zakrzewski M

Taylor, Sarah

Swe PM

Papenfuss AT

Sriprakash KS

Holt D

Chosidow O

Currie, Bart

Fischer K

2021-04-23

Epidemiological studies link Sarcoptes scabiei infection and impetigo. Scabies mites can promote Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus) and Staphylococcus aureus infections by breaching the skin barrier and excreting molecules that inhibit host innate immune responses. However, little is known about the composition and the function of the scabies-associated microbiota. Here, high-throughput whole-metagenome sequencing was used to explore the scabies-associated microbiome. Scabies mites including their immediate microenvironments were isolated from two patients with severe scabies in Northern Australia. Two ~45-50 million paired-end reads Illumina libraries were generated of which ~2 (5.1%) and 0.7 million (1.3%) microbial reads were filtered out by mapping to human (hg19) and mite draft genomes. Taxonomic profiling revealed a microbial community dominated by the phylum Firmicutes (A: 79% and B: 59%) and genera that comprise Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, and Corynebacterium. Assembly of the metagenome reads resulted in genome bins representing reference genomes of Acinetobacter baumannii, Streptococcus dysgalactiae (Group C/G), Proteus mirablis and Staphylococcus aureus. The contigs contained genes relevant to pathogenicity and antibiotics resistance. Confocal microscopy of a patient skin sample confirmed A. baumannii, Streptococci and S. aureus in scabies mite gut and faeces and the surrounding skin. The study provides fundamental evidence for the association of opportunistic pathogens with scabies infection.

Scabies Laboratory, Infectious Diseases Program, Biology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane 4006, Australia.

APHP, Hôpital Henri-Mondor, Department of Dermatology, Université Paris-Est, 94000 Créteil, France.

Research Group Dynamic, EA7380, Faculté de Santé de Créteil, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, USC ANSES, Université Paris-Est Créteil, 94000 Créteil, France.

Genetics and Computational Biology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane 4006, Australia.

Bioinformatics Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville 3052, Australia.

Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin 0810, Australia.

Department of Infectious Diseases, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin 0810, Australia.

Microorganisms. 2021 Apr 23;9(5):907. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9050907.

0000-0001-9912-7156

0000-0002-8878-8837

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33922793/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/11767

9

First Description of the Composition and the Functional Capabilities of the Skin Microbial Community Accompanying Severe Scabies Infestation in Humans.

Journal Article

Publication