=CLOTHES LICE.=--These insects are a trifle larger than the head lice,
being one-twelfth to one-eighth inch long, of a dirty, yellowish-gray
color, and only infesting the most filthy people. The lice are
generally only seen on the clothes, where they live, coming out on the
body only to feed. The visible signs on the body are varying degrees
of irritation from redness to ulceration, due to scratching. The
treatment is simply cleanliness of the body and clothes.
=CRAB LICE.=--The crab louse or "crab" inhabits the skin covered by
hair about and above the sexual organs most frequently, and from
thence spreads to the hairy region on the abdomen, chest, armpits,
beard, and eye lashes. Itching and scratching first call attention to
the presence of the parasites, which are even more troublesome than
the other species.
Application of kerosene to the part is sufficient to kill the lice,
but this treatment must be repeated several times at intervals of a
week, in order to kill the parasites subsequently hatched.
=FLEA.=--Flea bites are recognized by the itching caused by the poison
introduced by the insect, and by points of dried blood surrounded for
a little while by a red zone. In the case of children and people with
delicate skins, red or white lumps appear resembling nettlerash.
Generally the skin is simply covered with minute, red points, perhaps
raised a little by swelling above the surface, and when very numerous
may remotely resemble the rash of measles. Fleas, unlike lice, do not
breed on the body, but as soon as they are satiated leave their host.
Their eggs are laid in cracks in floors, on dirty clothes and similar
spots, and it is only the mature flea which preys upon man. The human
flea may infest the dog and return to man, but the dog flea is a
distinct species, and never remains permanently on the human host. For
these reasons it is not difficult to get rid of fleas after they have
attacked the body, unless continually surrounded by them.
=JIGGER OR SAND FLEA.=--Also called chique, chigo, and nigua. It is
common in Cuba, Porto Rico, and Brazil. About one-half the size of the
ordinary flea, it is of a brownish-red color with a white spot on the
back. The female lives in the sand and attacks man, on whom she lives,
boring into the skin about the toe nail, usually, and laying her eggs
under the skin, which gives rise to itching at first and then violent
pain. The insect sucks blood and grows as it gorges itself, producing
a white swelling of the skin in the center of which is seen a black
spot, the front part of the flea. The flea after expelling its eggs
drops off and dies. People with habitually sweaty feet are exempt from
attacks of the pest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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