Conference Agenda

Scabies is a common, debilitating neglected tropical disease that disproportionately affects overcrowded and resource-limited populations worldwide. Beyond the primary infestation, secondary bacterial infections can lead to severe complications, including sepsis, glomerulonephritis, and rheumatic fever and heart disease, contributing to significant morbidity and mortality. Early and accurate diagnosis is therefore critical for effective disease control.

Historically, scabies diagnosis has relied on the direct visualisation of mites, with microscopic examination of skin scrapings remaining the most widely used confirmatory method. More recently, non-invasive imaging techniques such as dermatoscopy, videomicroscopy, and reflectance confocal microscopy have improved diagnostic capability; however, their accessibility remains limited. To date, no molecular or serological diagnostic test has been successfully translated into routine clinical use. PCR- and ELISA-based approaches have shown promise but are constrained by their reliance on specialised equipment, cost, processing time, and technical expertise. While the International Alliance for the Control of Scabies has introduced standardised diagnostic criteria, a major gap persists in the availability of practical, point-of-care tools for near-patient diagnosis.

To address this unmet need, our work focuses on developing next-generation point-of-care diagnostics for scabies. Using proteomic approaches, we have identified highly abundant, scabies-specific faecal proteins as novel antigenic biomarkers. Our translational pipeline includes recombinant antigen production, monoclonal antibody and nanobody generation, and the development of ELISA- and lateral flow assays targeting both mite-derived proteins and host immune responses. These platforms are being validated through preclinical studies in a porcine scabies model and multicentre clinical trials in collaboration with industry and international partners.