Abstract
BackgroundSarcoptic mange is a contagious skin disease of wild and domestic mammals caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Reports of sarcoptic mange in wildlife increased worldwide in the second half of the 20th century, especially since the 1990s. The aim of this study was to provide new insights into the epidemiology of mange by (i) documenting the emergence of sarcoptic mange in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the last decades in Switzerland; and (ii) describing its spatiotemporal spread combining data obtained through different surveillance methods.MethodsRetrospective analysis of archived material together with prospective data collection delivered a large dataset from the 19th century to 2018. Methods included: (i) a review of historical literature; (ii) screening of necropsy reports from general health surveillance (1958–2018); (iii) screening of data on mange (1968–1992) collected during the sylvatic rabies eradication campaign; (iv) a questionnaire survey (<1980–2017) and (v) evaluation of camera-trap bycatch data (2005–2018).ResultsSarcoptic mange in red foxes was reported as early as 1835 in Switzerland. The first case diagnosed in the framework of the general health surveillance was in 1959. Prior to 1980, sarcoptic mange occurred in non-adjacent surveillance districts scattered all over the country. During the period of the rabies epidemic (1970s-early 1990s), the percentage of foxes tested for rabies with sarcoptic mange significantly decreased in subregions with rabies, whereas it remained high in the few rabies-free subregions. Sarcoptic mange re-emerged in the mid-1990s and continuously spread during the 2000–2010s, to finally extend to the whole country in 2017. The yearly prevalence of mange in foxes estimated by camera-trapping ranged from 0.1–12%.ConclusionsSarcoptic mange has likely been endemic in Switzerland as well as in other European countries at least since the mid-19th century. The rabies epidemics seem to have influenced the pattern of spread of mange in several locations, revealing an interesting example of disease interaction in free-ranging wildlife populations. The combination of multiple surveillance tools to study the long-term dynamics of sarcoptic mange in red foxes in Switzerland proved to be a successful strategy, which underlined the usefulness of questionnaire surveys.
Highlights
Sarcoptic mange is a contagious skin disease of wild and domestic mammals caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei
Study area Switzerland (41,285 k m2) is an Alpine country in central Europe. It is divided into 26 political subunits further subdivided in districts of surveillance of different sizes belonging to three main biogeographical regions (Alps, Plateau and Jura, covering around 63%, 27% and 10% of the country surface area (CSA), respectively) and 11 subregions
No historical information on mange for the Principality of Liechtenstein was found, sarcoptic mange has been present in the fox population of this country at least since 2012 (FIWI archives, unpublished observation)
Summary
Sarcoptic mange is a contagious skin disease of wild and domestic mammals caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. The burrowing mite Sarcoptes scabiei (Acarina: Sarcoptidae) is the aetiological agent of sarcoptic mange, a highly contagious skin disease affecting more than a hundred of domestic and wild mammal species worldwide [1, 2]. Among native and invasive European wild carnivores, sarcoptic mange has been reported in canids, felids, mustelids and procyonids [5,6,7,8,9]. Impressive epidemics of sarcoptic mange in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes; from here referred to as “fox(es)”) and other wild carnivores occurred in Fennoscandia and Denmark in the 1960s–1990s [7, 14, 16], where regional fox mortality reached 90% [7, 17]. Several outbreaks in foxes were reported in Great Britain in the 1990s [13]
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