Severe Tunga penetrans infestation in a six year old girl. Image courtesy of the CDC
This, believe it or not is a flea infestation.
If you’ve ever had a pet, you’ve had fleas. Those little jumping guys that seem to bite you everywhere imaginable. At the height of an infestation, they are legion.
There are many different types of fleas in the world, and most of them are these little insects which jump around and suck blood on their host. Tunga penetrans is different. It still jumps, not as well as other fleas, but it’s a jumper nonetheless.
Unlike other fleas, Tunga penetrans burrows under the skin of it’s victims. It’s stuck in there headfirst and extends it’s abdomen outside it’s host to breathe. It eventually grows to the size of a pea and causes a large and painful lump. At this point, it starts laying eggs. It’s kind of like having a rock stuck in your shoe, but people infested with this flea can have nearly one hundred fleas infesting them at a time. Extraction can cause the flea to burst and cause a severe immune reaction. It’s thought that Wolbachia is the cause of this, but that research is ongoing. As you can see from the picture, this can be a very disfiguring disease. Here’s what the flea looks like after it’s been extracted:
Tunga penetrans female and egg. Image courtesy of the CDC
Here’s a better picture:
Tunga penetrans image courtesy of Wikipedia commons
We don’t know too much about the biology of the organism, but lately there’s been a lot of research on the epidemiology. It affects mostly the poor, and people who have pets tend to be more likely to be more severely infected.
There is a simple prevention…shoes. The flea can only jump about a foot or so high and the feet are the most accessible place to it. Unfortunately, the people most afflicted can’t afford shoes.
It’s a neglected disease of those who live in abject poverty.
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