The Tropical Rat Mite, Liponyssus Bacoti Hirst, 1914

Abstract

practice of aspirating these joints for diagnosis. I think that, when a child is admitted with a fever of 101 F. or more, the white blood cells and the polymorphonuclear percentages increased and the joint distended with fluid, the condition war¬ rants aspiration of the joint to determine whether or not pyogenic organisms are present and whether or not the character of the fluid is essentially purulent. I should like to know also at what stage and from what data he decided that conservative Detroit, June 26, 1930.

Experiments on the Conversion of Typhus Strains

“…It is therefore not astonishing that we were not able to confirm the results of Shelmire and Dove (24) with Liponyssus bacoti.…”

Outbreak of rat mite dermatitis in medical students

“…The first case report of rat mites as a cause of human dermatitis was in 1913 in Australia 1 . Cases have been reported in the USA, 2 and in many other parts of the world 3 , 4 …”

“…Dermatitis may be seen in patients of all age groups, and 90% of cases of rat mite dermatitis occur in the spring 2 , 3 , 5 . The bite will induce a nonspecific dermatitis, usually consisting of small papules, or sometimes vesicles, that tend to be clustered.…”

“…The bite is frequently accompanied by mild pain at the site that precedes the dermatitis. The dermatitis is thought to be the result of individual mite bites, 2 or of scratching in response to pruritus. Sensitization to antigens of O. bacoti resulting in papular urticaria has also been suggested 5 .…”

“…A differential diagnosis should include: scabies, chigger bites, and acariasis acquired from other animals, fowl, grain, cheeses, etc., pediculosis corporis, bites of bedbugs, fleas, and other arthropods, dermatitis herpetiformis, and neurotic excoriations 3 , 6 , 9 . Several diseases have been transmitted by the rat mite experimentally, including murine typhus, rickettsial pox, tularemia, plague, coxsackievirus, and Q fever 2 , 3 , 9 . The rat mite is not known to be the vector of any infectious diseases in humans; however, Ram et al 10 .…”