Tunga penetrans in Cameroon

The parasitosis caused by Tunga penetrans is an important public health problem in Cameroon, even if there are only few reports of its presence in the country. With the aim to know the prevalence of this parasitosis in man, the season of infestation, the Province with higher infestation rate and the age group more infested, a first questionnaire have been done on 233 persons. After that, two investigations were carried out on the west Province that was recorded as the place with higher prevalence. In the first one, 537 pupils of the primary school were inspected, in the second one 384 swine were inspected in the piggeries and slaughterhouses. The first questionnaire showed that the 69,9 % of interviewers were infested almost one time in their life by T. penetrans always during the dry season, with the major prevalence in the West Province where many piggeries are present. The investigation carried out on pupils, revealed that 49,2 % had T. penetrans lesions, while from the swine investigation 57,5 % of the animals were infested. Tungiasis results frequent in Cameroon, affecting specially people aged 5 to 12 years in the localities where the parasite is present in swine and where these animals are left wandering near houses.