Tungiasis-associated morbidity in pigs and dogs in endemic villages of Uganda

Background: tunga penetrans (insecta,siphonaptera,tungidae) causes severe morbidity among heavily infected humans and animals in latin america and sub-saharan africa. the clinical pathology of tungiasis in animals has never been studied systematically. methods: this was a cross-sectional study conducted between january to march 2015,aimed at describing tungiasis-associated clinical pathology in 121 and 20 t. penetrans-infected pigs and dogs,living in nine and five endemic rural villages respectively located in bugiri district,busoga,uganda. results: the parasite load of infected animals ranged from one to 246 (median 8) and one to eight (median 2) in pigs and dogs,respectively. in pigs 99.3 % and in dogs 100 % of the lesions were located on feet. in pigs,hind legs were significantly more affected than front legs (90.9 % vs. 57.9 %; p = 0.002) and also had more lesions than the front legs (median 5 vs. 1; p = 0.0001). however,in dogs localization of lesions between front and hind legs never differed significantly (front,50 % vs. hind,65 %; p = 0.51) and so were the number of lesions (median front = 0.5 vs. median hind = 2; p = 0.7). acute and chronic clinical pathology coexisted. the most common disease manifestations in pigs were hoof wall erosions (68.6 %),tissue necrosis of hoof wall and skin (66.1),pain at infection sites (47.9 %),hoof deformity (45.5 %),fissures (44.6 %) and edema (44.6 %). in dogs,tungiasis mainly presented with pain at attachment site (80 %),ulcers (55 %),necrosis (30 %) as well as hyperemia and edema (both 15 %). one pig had lost dew claws while two had loose detaching claws. despite a lower number of sand fleas,a higher proportion of infected dogs (20 %) than pigs (5.8 %) exhibited functional limb use difficulties (p = 0.05). conclusions: the pattern of clinical manifestations in pigs and dogs were very similar to those reported from affected humans and rats. the important morbidity associated with animal tungiasis makes the disease a serious veterinary health problem in sub-saharan africa warranting treatment and control for optimal animal production. © 2016 mutebi et al.