NEED FOR BIOCONTROL AGENTS FOR JIGGERS...

Tunga penetrans commonly known as jiggers is a sand flea in the order Siphonaptera that parasitizes various mammalian hosts including humans, mainly in resource-poor communities thus the need to device effective and sustainable methods of controlling the parasite. Jiggers continue to cause temporal and in some cases permanent disability to its victims most of whom are productive members of society. These effects in return lead to reduced economic activities in the resource poor communities. In addition, the one-sided approach of seeking to cure already infected individuals with limited attention on control measures, leaves a gap in its prevention hence the need to incorporate substantive integrated parasite control mechanisms in order to intensify the fight against the parasite. Moreover, the impact of jiggers on households continues to hit the public health sector’s radar due to its increasing prevalence and the debilitating socio-economic difficulties it causes to its victims.  The numerous efforts by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation in conjunction with Ahadi Trust among a host of other anti-jigger organizations continue to try and alleviate jiggers’ negative impacts in affected populations in Kenya. This parasite’s presence is felt throughout the country except for few areas in the arid and semi-arid areas of North Eastern province in Kenya, due to high temperatures unfavorable to them. The main preventive measures advocated for have constantly been hygienic living conditions especially in earth-floored houses and the use of chemical fumigants. These preventive measures, however, continue to experience hurdles in their execution given that impoverished households inadvertently fail to maintain the hygienic standards and at the same time, cannot afford pairs of closed shoes throughout the year. In addition, these infective adult stages of the jiggers are harbored in soils found indoors due to mud-floors, increasing the exposed individuals to higher susceptibility to attack by the parasite. Therefore, an efficient, cheap, easy to spread and safe fungal isolates with limited host range sprayed in these homesteads, shall go a long way to destroy the larvae and infective  adult stages of jiggers and also create a sustainable control method. The increasing poverty levels and lack of knowledge on basic hygienic living conditions continue to pose a challenge to the control and eventual elimination of jiggers in Kenya. Traditional methods of chemical application and physical removal of the parasite from already infected individuals, seek only to alleviate the parasites after infestation. There are no drugs available with proven effectiveness. Clinical trials performed in the last few years did not show very promising results. Thus, surgical extraction still remains the treatment of choice in patients with a low parasite load, such as tourists returning from endemic areas. Arguably, the best approach to reduce tungiasis-associated morbidity in heavily affected individuals is the application of a repellent to prevent the penetration of the jiggers The parasitic flea lives in warm, dry soil and sand, and is found commonly in beaches, farms, and wooded areas. Both the male and female fleas feed on warm-blooded host, but only the impregnated female flea anchors herself and burrows into the host's skin. The flea burrows head first into the upper dermis, with the tail-end of its abdomen forming an orifice at the skin surface, which the flea uses to breathe. Characteristic symptoms of jiggers infection include: extreme itching, pain, inflammation around the infected region, formation of fibrous cysts, lesions in form of white or red patches, ulcerations in heavy infections and pus and blood discharge from the ulcer.  If the lesion is left untreated, secondary infection such as bacteremia, tetanus and gas gangrene occur. Because the flea has limited jumping ability, the most common site of infection in human beings’ are the feet, especially in the areas between the toes and around the toenails. Jiggers’ life cycle is characterized by egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Female sand flea penetrates hosts skin, and its abdomen is enlarged by the developing eggs thus causing tungiasis. Tungiasis is found mainly in Africa, Caribbean Islands, Central and South America, and India. Infection by flea can be effectively prevented by wearing shoes and spraying insecticides in affected areas. In dirt floored houses, success in fighting the fleas can be achieved by removing the top few inches of soil and replacing it with clean soil, preferably clay, which packs hard, unlike sand. Before replacing with new soil-clay, the bottoms of the walls may be sprayed with kerosene—spraying should be done as often as possible. This procedure should have a positive effect against worm eggs and other fleas as well as disease-causing germs. The future of sustainable and environment friendly control of pests and diseases is in the use of biological control agents. This is supported by the fact that numerous chemicals in use currently are facing multiple resistances against their target pests and parasites due to evolution as well as other novel interconnected survival tactics by these organisms. Therefore, the findings of a project carried out at the University of Nairobi between March and June in 2012 form a basis in addition to the other numerous related studies carried out and sited, to build on and realize an effective, easy to use and most importantly cheap biocontrol agent against jiggers to ease its burden on the poor people of the world affected by this parasite.