Parasitic Skin Diseases Of Humans

Parasitic skin diseases in humans are very common. They are commonly classified into 3 categories, which are as follows

Skin infections caused by protozoan parasites: Protozoans are the most prominent parasites infecting humans. There are several species of protozoan parasites that infect humans and cause severe skin infections. Most prominent among these is a parasite called as Leishmania tropica that causes Leishmaniasis or Kala azar. Another important protozoan infection is Trypanosomiasis, also known as Chagas disease or sleeping sickness. This disease is caused as a result of infection with Trypanosoma cruzi. Toxoplasmosis is one more parasitic skin infection caused by a protozoan namely Toxoplasma gonadii. In all these infections, parasites are transmitted to humans through flies. Important symptoms include extreme itching and appearance of nodules that get ulcerated within few months.

Skin infections caused by mites: Another important group of parasites that infect humans and cause skin infections are mites. Notable skin infections that are caused as a result of infestations of mites into the human skin include scabies, grain itch, Chiggers’ mite itch, rat mite itch, grocer’s itch, Trombidosis.

Skin infections caused by other agents: Apart from protozoans and mites, there are also other agents’ capable of causing skin infections in humans. These include lice, fleas, bedbugs and nematodes. All these are parasites that feed on the human blood. Some prominent diseases caused by these agents include Pediculosis (caused by lice), Cimicosis (a chronic skin reaction caused by bedbug bite), Pulicosis (caused due by fleabite), Culicosis (caused due to mosquito bites) and Creeping eruption (a disease caused due to infection of nematodes such as ancylostoma, hookworms and ascaris ).

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Parasitic Skin Diseases Of Humans