Tungiasis in the urban area of Popayán, Colombia: A case report
Abstract
Tungiasis is an endemic ectoparasitosis in Latin America associated with risk factors such as rurality, poverty, and living with animals. In Popayán, a city in southwest Colombia, the disease was highly prevalent in the past, to such degree that its inhabitants were given the nickname of patojo, a word that describes the way of walking of people infested by the flea. However, it was believed eradicated at present.
We present the case of a 12-year-old boy living in the urban area of Popayán, who presented with a one-month history of papular lesions with circular edges, blackish center, and hyperkeratotic halo on both feet. Tungiasis was suspected based on the clinical findings and ivermectin was administered. The lesions were surgically removed and sent for parasitological analysis, which confirmed the presence of Tunga penetrans. The patient evolved satisfactorily. The Secretaría de Salud Municipal de Popayán carried out an inspection of the patient’s home where migrant dogs from the Colombian Pacific were found in the surroundings, some with suspicious lesions of tungiasis.
We document here the resurgence of this pathology in urban areas, probably secondary to the migration of animals from rural areas. It is important to recognize the existence of the flea in rural and urban areas, make a medical diagnosis, and report cases to the surveillance entities to enable appropriate management and sanitary control of this neglected ectoparasitosis in humans and animals.
Downloads
References
Maco V, Tantaleán M, Gotuzzo E. Evidence of tungiasis in pre-hispanic America. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011;17:1-16. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1705.100542
Miller H, Rodríguez G. Tungiasis en población indígena del departamento de Vaupés: epidemiología, clínica, tratamiento y prevención. Biomédica. 2010;30:215-37. https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v30i2.185
Miller H, Trujillo-Trujillo J, Mutebi F, Feldmeier H. Efficacy and safety of dimeticones in the treatment of epidermal parasitic skin diseases with special emphasis on tungiasis: An evidence-based critical review. Brazilian J Infect Dis. 2020;24:170-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjid.2020.01.004
Valencia JN. Nuestro pasado con las niguas. Ánfora. 1994;2:42-4. https://doi.org/10.30854/anf.v2.n3.1994.493
Muehlen M, Heukelbach J, Wilcke T, Winter B, Mehlhorn H, Feldmeier H. Investigations on the biology, epidemiology, pathology and control of Tunga penetrans in Brazil: II. Prevalence, parasite load and topographic distribution of lesions in the population of a traditional fishing village. Parasitol Res. 2003;90:449-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-0877-7
Hernández O. De niguas, pulgas y chinches. Fecha de consulta: 1 de septiembre de 2020. Disponible en: https://www.espaciosvecinos.com/rastros/de-niguas-pulgas-y-chinches/
Dorado H, Alarcón AM. Popayán en Columnas de Papel. Primera edición. Popayán: Dorado H; 2009. p. 83-5.
Feldmeier H, Heukelbach J, Ugbomoiko US, Sentongo E, Mbabazi P, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G, et al. Tungiasis—A neglected disease with many challenges for global public health. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014;8:e3133. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003133
Heukelbach J. Revision on tungiasis: Treatment options and prevention. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2006;4:151-7. https://doi.org/10.1586/14787210.4.1.151
Herrera SE, Ochoa A, Escobar M, Correa LA. Tungiasis - reporte de un caso. Rev Asoc Colomb Dermatol. 2004;12:63-6.
Díaz CJ, Escandón-Vargas K. Tungiasis in a Colombian patient. Brazilian J Infect Dis. 2017;21:484-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjid.2016.12.010
Miller H, Ocampo J, Ayala A, Trujillo J, Feldmeier H. Very severe tungiasis in Amerindians in the Amazon lowland of Colombia: A case series. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019;13:1-19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007068
Feldmeier H, Sentongo E, Krantz I. Tungiasis (sand flea disease): A parasitic disease with particular challenges for public health. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2013;32:19-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-012-1725-4
Eisele M, Heukelbach J, van Marck E, Mehlhorn H, Meckes O, Franck S, et al. Investigations on the biology, epidemiology, pathology and control of Tunga penetrans in Brazil: I. Natural history of tungiasis in man. Parasitol Res. 2003;90:87-99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-002-0817-y
Hoon KS, Fernández MF, Buján MM, Cervini AB, Laffargue J, Pierini AM. Tungiasis. Presentación de un caso clínico. Arch Argent Pediatr. 2011;109:e82-4. https://doi.org/10.5546/aap.2011.e82
Criado PR, Landman G, Reis VMS, Belda W Jr. Tungiasis under dermoscopy: In vivo and ex vivo examination of the cutaneous infestation due to Tunga penetrans. An Bras Dermatol. 2013;88:649-51. https://doi.org/10.1590/abd1806-4841.20132071
Kehr JD, Heukelbach J, Mehlhorn H, Feldmeier H. Morbidity assessment in sand flea disease (tungiasis). Parasitol Res. 2007;100:413-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0348-z
Heukelbach J. Tungiasis. Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2005;47:307-13. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652005000600001
Heukelbach J, Franck S, Feldmeier H. Therapy of tungiasis: A double-blinded randomized controlled trial with oral ivermectin. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2004;99:873-6. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0074-02762004000800015
Tomczyk S, Deribe K, Brooker SJ, Clark H, Rafique K, Knopp S, et al. Association between footwear use and neglected tropical diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014;8:e3285. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003285
Thielecke M, Raharimanga V, Rogier C, Stauss-Grabo M, Richard V, Feldmeier H. Prevention of tungiasis and tungiasis-associated morbidity using the plant-based repellent zanzarin: A randomized, controlled field study in rural Madagascar. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013;7:e2426. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002426
Buckendahl J, Heukelbach J, Ariza L, Kehr JD, Seidenschwang M, Feldmeier H. Control of tungiasis through intermittent application of a plant-based repellent: An intervention study in a resource-poor community in Brazil. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2010;4:e879. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000879
Some similar items:
- Julián A. Fernández-Niño, Claudia I. Astudillo-García, Laura María Segura, Natalia Gómez, Ángela Skantria Salazar, Juan Hember Tabares, Cristian Andrés Restrepo, Miguel Ángel Ruiz, Myriam Consuelo López, Patricia Reyes, Profiles of intestinal polyparasitism in a community of the Colombian Amazon region , Biomedica: Vol. 37 No. 3 (2017)
- Hollman Miller, Gerzaín Rodríguez, Tungiasis in native Amerindians in Vaupés province: epidemiology, clinical aspects, treatment, and prevention , Biomedica: Vol. 30 No. 2 (2010)
- Constanza Pardo, Ricardo Cendales, Survival analysis of cervical cancer patients , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 3 (2009)
- Raúl Murillo, Ricardo Cendales, Carolina Wiesner, Marion Piñeros, Sandra Tovar, Effectiveness of cytology-based cervical cancer screening in the Colombian health system , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 3 (2009)
- Sandra Lorena Girón, Julio César Mateus, Fabián Méndez, Impact of an open waste disposal site on the occurrence of respiratory symptoms and on health care costs of children , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 3 (2009)
- José Joaquín Carvajal, Ligia Inés Moncada, Mauricio Humberto Rodríguez, Ligia del Pilar Pérez, Víctor Alberto Olano, Characterization of Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) (Diptera:Culicidae) larval habitats near the Amazon River in Colombia , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 3 (2009)
- Andrés Páez, Gloria Rey, Carlos Agudelo, Alvaro Dulce, Edgar Parra, Hernando Díaz-Granados, Damaris Heredia, Luis Polo, Outbreak of urban rabies transmitted by dogs in Santa Marta, northern Colombia , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 3 (2009)
- Patricia Escobar, Katherine Paola Luna, Indira Paola Hernández, César Mauricio Rueda, María Magdalena Zorro, Simon L. Croft, In vitro susceptibility of Trypanosoma cruzi strains from Santander, Colombia, to hexadecylphosphocholine (miltefosine), nifurtimox and benznidazole , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 3 (2009)
- Jorge Iván Zapata-Valencia, Diana Maritza Jurado-Orejuela, Ofelia Flórez-Echeverry, Erica Marcela Aristizábal-Giraldo, Jhonathan León Gallego-Franco, María Camila Yolanda Ramírez-Uribe, Jemina Rentería-Molina, Alejandra Sandoval-Villareal, Yermaín Ulabarri-Valencia, Juan Carlos Zambrano-Camelo, Prevalence of intestinal parasites in street dwellers attending a shelter in Cali, Colombia , Biomedica: Vol. 44 No. 4 (2024)
- Mauricio Beltrán, María Cristina Navas, María Patricia Arbeláez, Jorge Donado, Sergio Jaramillo, Fernando De la Hoz, Cecilia Estrada, Lucía del Pilar Cortés, Amalia de Maldonado, Gloria Rey, Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus infection in a population of multiply-transfused patients in Colombia , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 2 (2009)
| Article metrics | |
|---|---|
| Abstract views | |
| Galley vies | |
| PDF Views | |
| HTML views | |
| Other views | |
