The First Toxicological status of human Body Lice from Buenos Aires, Argentina (Human Lice)

A. C. TOLOZA; CLAUDIA VASSENA

Conferencia; International Conference on Phthiraptera 6; 2018

Pediculushumanus is of great concern to public health andincludes two ecotypes P. h. capitis(head louse) which lives on the human scalp and P. h. humanus (body louse) which lives in clothing in poor and unhygienicconditions such as refugee camps and shelters for the homeless. Body lice cancause itching and can spread certain types of diseases (Trench fever, Typhusand Relapsing Fever). Homelessness, defined as the absence of a conventionaldwelling or residence, is a growing social and public health problem and areparticularly exposed to ectoparasites. Infestation with P.h.h. also known as ?vagabond´s disease, is an issue of concernamong homeless. In Buenos Aires (BA) a homeless men pass away in the streets.At the autopsy operation, the cause of death was by natural causes. A considerablenumber of body lice were found on the body. They were alive and wereimmediately transferred to the CIPEIN. Once in the laboratory, they were identifyand classified. The aim of our study was to determine the toxicological effect ofInsecticides. The lethal doses (LD50) to permethrin and ivermectinwere:   LD50 Phh BA 6 ng/i (Phh ref. 2.4ng/i) and LD50 Phh BA 1.8ng/i (Phh ref. 1.6 ng/i);respectively. The total number of collected insects was: 516 nymphs I, 158nymphs II, 193 nymphs III, 105 males and 91 females. This is the first time thatthe toxicological parameters were determined from human body lice from BuenosAires.