Parasitic Skin Diseases Of Humans

According to World Health Organization reports, around 3.5 billion people around the world are suffering from some type of parasitic infection. There are, in fact, more than 3,000 different types of parasites that infect humans and cause a variety of diseases. Most interesting among these are those that cause terrible skin infections. Parasites on the skin are primarily small insects or worms that penetrate into the layers of the skin, lay their eggs and grow there.

Mentioned below are some of those parasitic skin diseases caused by skin parasites.

Creeping Eruption: This is a disease that is caused as a result of hookworm infection. Infection occurs in humans through skin contact. Characteristic symptoms of this disease include severe itching and a winding rash as a result of the burrowing activity of the hookworm. Treatment is possible through topical application of liquid thiabendazole.

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Also known as tropical sore, oriental sore or Baghdad sore, this disease is caused as a result of infection with Leishmania tropica, a protozoan parasite. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is transmitted due to bite of the Phlebotomus sand fly. Characteristic symptoms of this disease include development of lesions or papulae on the skin that appear as a small, brownish nodule and they gradually ulcerate over a few months. Multiple satellite nodules can appear around the primary lesion. While children are more susceptible to this infection, cutaneous leishmaniasis can cause serious skin problems in adults too. Diagnosis of the infection is done through staining the smear from the base of the ulcer with Wright’s stain. Another diagnostic method is Leishman test, where an intradermal injection of leishmanial antigen is given to the patient. Different medications such as Pentostam, Neostibosan, Tetracycline, Fouadin, Pentamidine isethionate and Dihydrometine are used for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Scabies: This is a skin disease that is caused as a result of infection with a female parasite known as Sarcopetes scabeii. Classified under zoonotic diseases, scabies is caused when the parasite buries itself into the layers of the skin. Inside the skin, this parasite lays eggs that hatch within a few days. Scabies occurs primarily in infants, children and young adults. Characteristic symptoms of this disease include intense itching sensation during nights, rash, and formation of lesions on the head, neck, palms and soles. In extreme cases such as Norwegian Scabies, psoriasiform scaly lesions appear on the trunk and extremities.