2. Academic Validation
  3. Tungiasis: a poorly documented tropical dermatosis

Tungiasis: a poorly documented tropical dermatosis

  • Med Mal Infect. 2011 Sep;41(9):465-8. doi: 10.1016/j.medmal.2011.05.007.
M Lefebvre 1,  C Capito,  C Durant,  B Hervier,  O Grossi
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Service de maladies infectieuses et tropicales, CHU Nantes, 1 place Alexis-Ricordeau, Nantes cedex 1, France. lefebvremaeva@gmail.com
PMID: 21703785 DOI: 10.1016/j.medmal.2011.05.007
Abstract

Tungiasis is the parasitic skin disease caused by the sand flea Tunga penetrans, also called the jigger flea, found in most intertropical countries. The contamination occurs when walking barefoot in the sand: adult females actively burrow the foot epidermis leading to self-limited lesions responsible for itching or pain. The diagnosis is made on clinical observation and history of travelling to an endemic country. The simple treatment is surgical extraction of the flea.

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