TUNGIASIS: EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE TELEVISION PROJECT
Isotopic Phenomenon Unexpected Evolution. Are Argentine Scientists Out of Date?
Author: Jorge Mejias Acosta. Independent researcher at the service of the medical sciences.
Code: 2012076157173.
Reserved rights. (Sharing is allowed. Partial publication in any format is prohibited).
Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yz37gnffm57h1xk/Tungiasis-Reporte-De-Un-Caso-Cl%C3%ADnico.pdf/view?dl=0
According to an article published in the Argentina magazine of Dermatology Oct - Dec 2019 | Vol. 100 n ° 4, which as an introduction says: "We report the case of little Argentinian girl who went to Caribbean beach and acquired the infestation by tunga penetrans, which made its develop striking; showing an isotopic phenomenon.”
Q: Mr. Mejias, what does "Isotopic phenomenon" mean?
A: Well... I guess they mean an unexpected chemical reaction.
Q: Is this scientific assessment relevant?
A: Not in this case, and it's far from being a serious assessment.
Q: Please explain.
A: First let's break some myths.
Q: Okay. Let's start for the beginning. I quote: "The infestation is favored by bad habits, such as walking barefoot” (...).
A: It does not make sense. it's not the action of walking, it's the permanence in contaminated areas.
Q: Barefoot?
A: Not necessarily. Even with shoes, the fleas are going to enter.
Q: With shoes?
A: Yes. Because they are climbers. Capable of activating efficient combination displacement in a very short time. After a great initial vertical jump, they develop short races and small linear jumps.
Q: Mr. Mejias in the photos can be seen several stings.
A: Those aren't stings, are penetrations. They penetrate, place their heads on top of the veins of the feet, and then they sting to feed.
Q: It is obvious that several fleas entered.
A: Yes it is.
Q: But the scientific article ensures that it was a single female flea that entered. I quote: "The clinical picture is produced exclusively by the female flea (...). After the copulation in the soil (...), the fertilized female excavates in the upper dermis and expels the eggs outward (...). On the floor the eggs hatch and fulfill their larvae cycle until adult parasite.” Do you believe this statement is true?
A: No, It is not true. Some time ago I have denouncing that these theories defend a model of tungiasis that does not correspond to reality. The tunga penetrans has the persistent habit of creating nests everywhere. Despite this, it is a mother who cares its eggs.
In this way, we have:
1. Internal nests: After penetrating the skin, deposits its eggs inside the tissue folds attached to the system.
2. External nests: After establishing an external nest it deposits its eggs within them.
Q: External nests?
A: Yes. The tunga penetrans is specialized in collecting environmental information. It has a very developed sensory system which serves as language. Its chemoreceptor sensillas have the peculiarity of detecting the smell of the pheromone. For that reason they use the system of "let's follow the leader!"
Q: Follow the leader?
A: Yes. The leading flea, inviting mating to males and other females, permeates its sensilium of pheromones; and to the extent that it advances, leaves a chemical trail that the rest follow so as not to get lost.
Q: Then, it's not a single flea as they say. They are several. They entered group and the "papules" presented are not bites, they are penetrations. So, it can be deduced there is a flea in each of them. Is not it true?
A: They are definitely "papules" in development. Potential larvaes's reservoir, because of the copulation takes place within the host.
Q: Mr. Mejias, going back to the main theme. According to the article, in the lesion where the tunga penetrans was extracted, an "isotopic phenomenon" occurs. Could you explain to me what's all this?
A: There is no unexpected reaction. What they call "isotopic phenomenon" is actually a double penetration. Inherent circumstance to the tungiasis. This occurs because another flea penetrates the flooded injury of lymph waste in which the remains of the flea extracted were.
It can be explained in the following way:
1. Recycling reservoirs. The tunga penetrans is opportunistic and adapts easily to the characteristics of its environment. To penetrate they develop a great effort. So, they prefer to look for recent wounds, scars, pores, fissures and natural corridors to enter.
2. Food supply. The tunga penetrans not only feeds on blood; it is also fed from bodily fluids.
Q: Fluids?
A: Yes. I mean the humoral serum that segregates the body after producing an injury in the dermis. These fluid mixed with blood are wanted by the tunga penetrans and help the larvaes's development too.
Q: Is there a possibility that these penetrations do not become reservoirs?
A: It can be possible. The tungiasis is a dynamic illness. It not auto regulated as the scientists affirm; rather it is a masking, presenting itself as asymptomatic.
Q: Mr. Mejias, no anatomical elements of the parasite or eggs were observed in the other "papules"...
A: In Argentina there is no medical technology required to determine that. They are very small animals. The size varies between them. They are penetrating, have a habit of hiding, and they are not always on the surface. Thank God we can see the effect they create!
Q: But there was a medical treatment. I quote: (...) Treatment with ivermectin 200 micrograms / kg was performed, which was repeated after ten days, topical with thiabendazole and oral antibiotic therapy (...).
A: This treatment is routine. All doctors apply it, but it is not effective.
Q: What about ivermectin?
A: Ivermectin is a toxic molecule that inhibits the motor and sensory abilities of some parasitic insects. Unfortunately it has not shown efficacy against tungiasis.
Q: What will happen to the girl?
A: Undoubtedly, "the appearance of new lesions in the same location with the formation of pyrogenic granulomas" is the trail that tungiasis has left on the back of the girl's foot. The tunga penetrans never leaves the body of a host, it takes it as its own home. To bind him for life, it pollutes the spaces in which its victim is present. I can assure you that if there is a male and a female among those fleas, little by little they will establish themselves on the legs; and as time passes, they will expand throughout the body.
Q: Mr. Mejias, these cases are imported? I quote: "In recent years an increase in infections in tourists traveling to endemic areas (imported cases) have been observed."
A: It could be the cases they have handled, but reality is other. I have a line of communication with people with tungiasis around the world. I know that in Argentina there are many people with these problems. The tungiasis is moving over the cities. It is walking down the dirty streets of Buenos Aires. Citizens are unprotected. There are no medical protocols in hospitals and it is impossible to make a complaint. In these cases, the performance of the Prosecutor's Office is subordinated to outdated expert opinion.
Q: Is there no solution for this problem?
A: Best ask the Argentine scientists. They with their discriminatory theory, made just for a rich tourist, have helped to curb the will of genuine researchers to develop an effective medication that allows controlling this terrible disease. Thousands of children die annually because of it!
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