Tungiasis – Sand Flea disease: Training of health workers at national and district levels on skin-NTDs

Tungiasis has been included as part of the skin-neglected tropical diseases in the NTD road map 2021-2030 launched by WHO in 2020. Tungiasis is caused by the penetration of sand fleas into the epidermis of its host and affects mostly resource-poor urban and rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. There is a lack of reliable data on geographic distribution, prevalence, and intensity of infection, but there have been reports of communities with prevalence up to 60% in children and 30% in the general population. In endemic areas affected, people suffer from heavy infections and severe, frequently debilitating and incapacitating morbidity.

However, national and local health authorities do not prioritize this disease within the public health intervention plans, mainly because of lack of data, knowledge or interest. Thus, affected communities still usually use treatments that cause more harm than good, although effective and safe means for prevention and treatment exist. The course includes background information on skin-NTDs, epidemiology of tungiasis, pathogenesis and clinical pathology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, socioeconomic impact, and public health interventions.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the epidemiology of tungiasis;
• Describe the clinical aspects;
• Understand how the diagnosis is made;
• Explain how to treat and prevent tungiasis;
• Understand the socioeconomic impact; and
• Describe the public health interventions.

Approximate course duration: 2 hours.