Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants on November 07, 2015, 07:49:02 PM
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Muzungu describes his encounter with jiggers in Bungoma County.
Tungiasis is the medical condition that develops when a victim is infected with Tunga penetrans– an aggressive sand flea first identified in South America. The infection starts when the small flea burrows into the skin and begins to feed on its host’s blood while leaving its abdomen exposed as to excrete waste and eggs. The eggs must be fertilized by male fleas which, also feed on blood,but once finished they crawl away and die. The female remains neck deep in the victim’s skin pumping out stringy red waste and little white oval eggs. This continues for not usually more than five weeks when she too dies. After a short time her body collapses and the carcass dislodges from the skin.
The eggs must find their way to a dry, dusty, perhaps sandy, area where they can grow up. They hatch and then go through a few stages of molting where they actually decrease in size so that they’re not really visible to the naked eye. At this point they seek out a host, human or any other mammal and while attached to the host they can grow to the size of a small pea.
At this point I’m guessing most people have clicked away from this disgusting topic but I’ll continue on writing to ease my conscience.
The first time I personally encountered “Jiggers” (that’s their English name) was Friday, January 10th 2014. I woke up at 6:30am and grabbed some toast with avocado and peanut butter for breakfast and, after running some errands, rode a motorcycle taxi (piki piki) to the Kenyan Red Cross Society, Bungoma Branch, at about 11:30AM.
http://insearchofthemoment.com/blog/sandfleas
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It's not pleasant. But easily treated. Needle, antiseptic, bandaids.
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Those suckers are bad