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Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet

BACKGROUND: In endemic communities, zoonotic tungiasis, a severe skin disease caused by penetrating female sand fleas, is a public health hazard causing significant human and animal morbidity. No validated drugs are currently available for treatment of animal tungiasis. Due to the reservoir in domes...

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Autores principales: Mutebi, Francis, von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Georg, Feldmeier, Hermann, Waiswa, Charles, Bukeka Muhindo, Jeanne, Krücken, Jürgen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5058476/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27727268
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005056
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author Mutebi, Francis
von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Georg
Feldmeier, Hermann
Waiswa, Charles
Bukeka Muhindo, Jeanne
Krücken, Jürgen
author_facet Mutebi, Francis
von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Georg
Feldmeier, Hermann
Waiswa, Charles
Bukeka Muhindo, Jeanne
Krücken, Jürgen
author_sort Mutebi, Francis
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In endemic communities, zoonotic tungiasis, a severe skin disease caused by penetrating female sand fleas, is a public health hazard causing significant human and animal morbidity. No validated drugs are currently available for treatment of animal tungiasis. Due to the reservoir in domestic animals, integrated management of human and animal tungiasis is required to avert its negative effects. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A topical aerosol containing chlorfenvinphos 4.8%, dichlorphos 0.75% and gentian violet 0.145% licensed to treat tick infestations, myiasis and wound sepsis in animals in the study area, was tested for its potential tungicidal effects in a randomized controlled field trial against pig tungiasis in rural Uganda. Animals with at least one embedded flea were randomized in a treatment (n = 29) and a control (n = 26) group. One week after treatment, 58.6% of the treated pigs did not show any viable flea lesion whereas all control pigs had at least one viable lesion. After treatment the number of viable lesions (treated median = 0, overall range = 0–18 vs. control median = 11.5, range = 1–180) and the severity score for estimating acute pathology in pig tungiasis (treated median = 1, range = 0–3.5 vs. control median = 7, range = 0–25) were significantly lower in treated than in control pigs (p < 0.001). In the treatment group the median number of viable flea lesions decreased from 8.5 to 0 (p < 0.001). Similarly, the median acute severity score dropped from 6 to 1 (p < 0.001). Every pig in the treatment group showed a decrease in the number of viable fleas and tungiasis-associated acute morbidity while medians for both increased in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates that a topical treatment based on chlorfenvinphos, dichlorphos and gentian violet is highly effective against pig tungiasis. Due to its simplicity, the new approach can be used for the treatment of individual animals as well as in mass campaigns.
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spelling pubmed-50584762016-10-27 Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet Mutebi, Francis von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Georg Feldmeier, Hermann Waiswa, Charles Bukeka Muhindo, Jeanne Krücken, Jürgen PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: In endemic communities, zoonotic tungiasis, a severe skin disease caused by penetrating female sand fleas, is a public health hazard causing significant human and animal morbidity. No validated drugs are currently available for treatment of animal tungiasis. Due to the reservoir in domestic animals, integrated management of human and animal tungiasis is required to avert its negative effects. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A topical aerosol containing chlorfenvinphos 4.8%, dichlorphos 0.75% and gentian violet 0.145% licensed to treat tick infestations, myiasis and wound sepsis in animals in the study area, was tested for its potential tungicidal effects in a randomized controlled field trial against pig tungiasis in rural Uganda. Animals with at least one embedded flea were randomized in a treatment (n = 29) and a control (n = 26) group. One week after treatment, 58.6% of the treated pigs did not show any viable flea lesion whereas all control pigs had at least one viable lesion. After treatment the number of viable lesions (treated median = 0, overall range = 0–18 vs. control median = 11.5, range = 1–180) and the severity score for estimating acute pathology in pig tungiasis (treated median = 1, range = 0–3.5 vs. control median = 7, range = 0–25) were significantly lower in treated than in control pigs (p < 0.001). In the treatment group the median number of viable flea lesions decreased from 8.5 to 0 (p < 0.001). Similarly, the median acute severity score dropped from 6 to 1 (p < 0.001). Every pig in the treatment group showed a decrease in the number of viable fleas and tungiasis-associated acute morbidity while medians for both increased in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates that a topical treatment based on chlorfenvinphos, dichlorphos and gentian violet is highly effective against pig tungiasis. Due to its simplicity, the new approach can be used for the treatment of individual animals as well as in mass campaigns. Public Library of Science 2016-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC5058476/ /pubmed/27727268 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005056 Text en © 2016 Mutebi et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mutebi, Francis
von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Georg
Feldmeier, Hermann
Waiswa, Charles
Bukeka Muhindo, Jeanne
Krücken, Jürgen
Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet
title Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet
title_full Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet
title_fullStr Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet
title_full_unstemmed Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet
title_short Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos, Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet
title_sort successful treatment of severe tungiasis in pigs using a topical aerosol containing chlorfenvinphos, dichlorphos and gentian violet
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5058476/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27727268
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005056
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