ORNITHONYSSUS SYLVIARUM (ACARI: GAMASIDA: MACRONYSSIDAE) A CAUSE OF PRURITIC DERMATITIS FOR POULTRY FARM WORKERS IN SOHAG GOVERNORATE, EGYPT

Abstract

People urban areas have shared environment with pets and animals, mainly birds and rodents.These animals harbor zoonotic parasites, as mites of the suborder Mesostigmata. The miteswere Dermanyssus gallinae (the poultry red mite) and Ornithonyssus sylviarum & O. bursa,the primary hosts are Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus. These species of mites may beharmful to animals, as well as to people working in the shops or potential pet owners. Thestudy dermatological and parasitological evaluated the workers (n=30) in a poultry farming atEl-Kawther, Sohag Governorate for mite pruritus and to identify mites in the period from Julyto October 2019. Detailed history was taken from all workers. Full examination was done.Workers gave history of exposure to insects bite in the poultry farm where they work. Workerswere advised to collect any insects that can bite them or come in contact with their skin,which were referred to Parasitology unit, Sohag University, for identification both by lightmicroscopy and SEM. Examination of all workers revealed that 70% (21/30) of them complainedof itching of variable intensity. Age of participants ranged from 38-41 years all ofthem were males. About pruritus, all cases had insidious onset of pruritus, commonly insummer season (16/21 & 76.19%), especially at night (18/21 & 85.7%), Recurrence of thesymptoms after treatment occurred (11/21 & 52.18%). Patients’ examination showed that skinlesions were more on the exposed sites forming excoriated papules (71.4%) and urticarial lesions(28.6%). Insects collected where examined by using light and SE microscope. Arthropodswere identified as O. sylviarum in all cases.O. sylviarum is a causative agent of human mite dermatitis in Sohag Governorate. The identificationof the cryptic species should be tolerable by amalgamating morphological study withmolecular analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequence.