The Anthrax mite (''Sarcoptes anthracis'') is a pathogenic

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

and an intermediate host of

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

. ''Sarcoptes anthracis'' was classified by

Dmitri Ivanovsky Dmitri Iosifovich Ivanovsky (alternative spelling ''Dmitrii'' or ''Dmitry Iwanowski''; russian: Дми́трий Ио́сифович Ивано́вский; 28 October 1864 – 20 June 1920) was a Russian botanist, the co-discoverer of :viruses ...

in 1901 after first occurrences of infection on Asian

Tufted Deer The tufted deer (''Elaphodus cephalophus'') is a small species of deer characterized by a prominent tuft of black hair on its forehead and fang-like canines for the males. It is a close relative of the muntjac, living somewhat further north over ...

s. The parasitic itch mite burrows into skin and causes

sarcoptic mange Mange is a type of skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Because various species of mites also infect plants, birds and reptiles, the term "mange", or colloquially "the mange", suggesting poor condition of the skin and fur due to the infection ...

, mostly seen on

even-toed ungulates The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...

. Pregnant female mites tunnel into the

stratum corneum The stratum corneum (Latin for 'horny layer') is the outermost layer of the epidermis. The human stratum corneum comprises several levels of flattened corneocytes that are divided into two layers: the ''stratum disjunctum'' and ''stratum compact ...

of a host's skin and deposit eggs in the burrows. Young mites move about on the skin and molt into a "nymphal" stage, hosting Bacillus anthracis in their digestive tract. They act as a vector that carries and transmits anthrax to their hosts causing an infection, which often results in death because the immune system was weakened by scabies before. The high host specificity of the mites is held responsible for the fact that mostly even-toed ungulates struggled with these consequences. In late 1950s the last foci of infection were reported in semi-domesticated

reindeers Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

after which no greater incidences were observed.

References

* Madigan M.; Martinko J.: "Brock Biology of Microorganisms" (9th ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 233–35. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthrax Mite Sarcoptiformes Zoonoses