Floor type Characterization Temperature And Humidity Tolerance For Tunga Penetrans Infestation In Igbokoda Ondo State Nigeria

Tunga penetrans, the jigger flea is causal agent of the skin inflammatory disease so-called tungiasis which is considered common with unhygienic, poor and indigent residents of communities in the world. This study illustrates the various floor type characteristics and designated key environmental factors that buoy up infestations in endemic foci. Sand fleas were sampled using a clean white cloth laid on floors of house and verandas and environmental variables determined using EOSUN electronic device for temperature cum relative humidity measures. Result divulge that majority of the fleas were obtained from inside house of Zion (36 fleas) and verandas of Kofawe (29 fleas). Inside the house of the various locations, unpaved floor types accounted for 52.8% and 70% of the sampled fleas in Zion and Kofawe respectively and 50% of the sampled in both paved and paved floors with cracks in Laranda while in verandas, 36.7% and 62.1% of the sampled fleas were from unpaved floor types in Zion and Kofawe and 54.2% of the fleas recorded in paved floors with cracks in Laranda. Temperature ranges of 28.00C-35.60C and relative humidity ranges of 50.0%-88% were reported for this study. Since the various floor-type characteristics and selected environmental conditions are optimum for flea population growth, targeting the temperature and relative humidity tolerance level through manipulation for species and paving the unpaved and amending the paved with cracks floor types is recommended to discourage infestations.