Tungiasis
| Tungiasis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chigoe flea | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | infectious disease |
| ICD-10 | B88.1 |
| ICD-9-CM | 134.1 |
| DiseasesDB | 29589 |
Tungiasis (also known as nigua,pio and bicho de pie, or pique or sand flea disease) is an inflammatory skin disease caused by infection with the female ectoparasitic Tunga penetrans (also known as chigoe flea, jigger, nigua or sand flea), found in the tropical parts of Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and India. Tunga penetrans is the smallest flea in the world, measuring 1 mm across. It is also known in Latin America as the nigua and bicho de pie (Spanish) or bicho de pé (Portuguese), literally "foot bug".Tunga penetrans is a member of the genus Tunga, which comprises 13 species.
Tungiasis causes skin inflammation, severe pain, itching, and a lesion at the site of infection that is characterized by a black dot at the center of a swollen red lesion, surrounded by what looks like a white halo. Desquamation of the skin is always seen, especially after the flea expands during hypertrophy.
As of 2009, tungiasis is present worldwide in 88 countries with varying degrees of incidence. This disease is of special public health concern in highly endemic areas such as Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Brazil, where its prevalence, especially in poor communities, has been known to approach 50%.
The chigoe flea is properly classified as a member of the order Siphonaptera as it is a flea. Although commonly referred to as chiggers, true chiggers are mites which are minute arachnids. Mites penetrate the skin and feed on skin cells that are broken down by an enzyme they secrete from their mouthparts, but they do not lay eggs in the host as T. penetrans does. Moreover, in mites, the adult and the larval forms both feed on other animals. This is not the case with T. penetrans, as only the adults feed on mammals and it is only the female that stays attached to the host.
Tunga penetrans is also known by the following names: chigoe flea, sand flea, nigua, chigger flea, jigger flea, bicho de pé, pico, sikka, kuti, and piqui, among many others.
The symptoms of this disease include:
Left untreated, secondary infections, such as bacteremia, tetanus, and gangrene, can occur.
In all cases, tungiasis by itself only caused morbidity, though secondary infection may lead to mortality. The life cycle section presents the Fortaleza stages from the flea’s developmental perspective. It should be noted that the discussion is specific to symptoms of human infection. The clinical presentation in humans follows the Fortaleza Classification as the stage of infection will determine the symptoms present. The following discussion will give an overview of the symptoms beginning in stage 2 because patients are not likely to present themselves at the early stages of infection, mostly because the flea’s burrowing is usually not felt. This may be due to a keratolytic enzyme secreted during stage 1.
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