Background: Tungiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by female sand fleas (Tunga penetrans) embedded in the skin. The disease is associated with important morbidity. Tungiasis is endemic along the Coast of Kenya with a prevalence ranging from 11% to 50% in school-age children. Hitherto, studies on epidemiological characteristics of tungiasis in Africa are scanty.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study 1,086 individuals from 233 households in eight villages located in Kakuyuni and Malanga Sub-locations, Kilifi County, on the Kenyan Coast, were investigated. Study participants were examined systematically and the presence and severity of tungiasis were determined using standard methods. Demographic, socio-economic, environmental and behavioral risk factors of tungiasis were assessed using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate regression analysis.
Results: The overall prevalence of tungiasis was 25.0% (95% CI 22.4-27.5%). Age-specific prevalence followed an S-shaped curve, peaking in the under-15 year old group. In 42.5% of the households at least one individual had tungiasis. 15.1% of patients were severely infected (≥ 30 lesions). In the bivariate analysis no specific animal species was identified as a risk factor for tungiasis. Multivariate analysis showed that the occurrence of tungiasis was related to living in a house with poor construction characteristics, such as mud walls (OR 3.35; 95% CI 1.71-6.58), sleeping directly on the floor (OR 1.68; 95% CI 1.03-2.74), the number of people per sleeping room (OR = 1.77; 95% CI 1.07-2.93) and washing the body without soap (OR = 7.36; 95% CI 3.08-17.62). The odds of having severe tungiasis were high in males (OR 2.29; 95% CI 1.18-44.6) and were very high when only mud puddles were available as a water source and lack of water permitted washing only once a day (OR 25.48 (95% CI 3.50-185.67) and OR 2.23 (95% CI 1.11-4.51), respectively).
Conclusions: The results of this study show that in rural Kenya characteristics of poverty determine the occurrence and the severity of tungiasis. Intra-domiciliary transmission seems to occur regularly.