Re: Tiny flea like black bugs are multiplying and spreading

Posted by Diane Ruhala on August 16, 2002 at 23:38:51:

In Reply to: Re: Tiny flea like black bugs are multiplying and spreading posted by dee on June 28, 2002 at 23:43:48:

: : : I found one or two little black bugs that could jump like a flea...but I know what normal fleas look like and these were quite tiny by comparison. I killed them and dismissed it...then found some in the tub and sink...within a week, it seemed my bathroom was infested and soon I started to see them elsewhere and found large numbers of dead ones floating in the toilet (obvious water lovers)...but now I find them in bed, on the desk, on the window sill, and on me. I have had many itchy bumps that have not been healing properly and now I am suspicious it is these bugs and they are having a population explosion. Yikes... I am spraying everything and going nuts. Anyone know what these miniature jumping bugs are...are they are miniature form of flea or something and why start in the bathroom and why have they explored to be everywhere????? Help.

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: : Try searching for Tunga penetrans
: : Context.-Tunga penetrans is a flea that burrows into human skin, causing the disease tungiasis. Although the parasite is not endemic in the United States, patients may present with this disease upon returning from tropical locales. Histologic sections contain a variety of flea parts that may present a diagnostic dilemma for pathologists unfamiliar with this disease. Objective.-To determine the typical histologic features of T penetrans in biopsies from patients with tungiasis. Methods.-We reviewed biopsy specimens from 7 patients with tungiasis and sought 8 distinct structures: the exoskeleton, hypodermal layer, respiratory tract (tracheae), digestive tract, striated muscle, head, posterior end, and developing eggs. Results.-The exoskeleton, hypodermal layer, tracheae, digestive tract, and developing eggs were present in all biopsy specimens reviewed. Striated muscle, the posterior end, and head, however, were present in 57%, 43%, and 0% of the biopsies, respectively. In addition, we noted a unique, pale-staining layer in the exoskeleton at the posterior end of the organism that, to the best of our knowledge, has not previously been described and that may be of diagnostic value. Conclusions.-Despite the absence of 3 key morphologic features in many (posterior end and striated muscle) or all (head) of our biopsies, the exoskeleton with a hypodermal layer, tracheae, and developing eggs were uniformly present, and together these features are sufficient for a diagnosis of tungiasis.

: : PMID: 12033962 [PubMed - in process]
: : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12033962&dopt=Abstract
: : --------------------------------------------------------------------------------You have clover mites!!!
: :
Hi! I read your note and finally found someone who has been plagued with the black dot flea as I have. For months and months I felt something crawling on my head and when I brushed my hair in to the tub, I would always have 10 or more black dots in the tub. I thought I was going crazy!Then
at last, I brushed what looked like a tiny flea into the tub and it started crawling around real fast. I thought, this is weird, a flea! when I went to a dermatologist in Denver he said there was no such thing as a bug that lives under the scalp, even though I brought him an envelope full
of "black dots" and flea body parts. He did say he saw bug parts but couldnt tell what it was. It has been the strangest thing I have ever encounterd. It is now gone, but I have searched and searched for a diangnosis and being an R.N., I
stumbled across it in a Taber's encyclopedia on
or by accident. If you would like to talk further
my email addresss is Cleco8XB@webtv.net. Thanks
for your note about the black dot plague. I thought I was going crazy for a while there, trying to figure out what it was. Diane Ruhala

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