TROMBIDIOSIS OF THE NOSE AND LIPS. HARVEST ITCH.
In different parts of Europe and America, and especially in the warmer regions, or in sheltered gardens, shrubberies, and pastures, different species of the trombidium abound, and the young hexapod larvæ attack man and beast, burrowing under the cuticle and giving rise to extreme itching and persistent and irritating rubbing of the affected part. These parasites belong to the family of acari or mites, so that the condition they produce is one of acariasis or mange, only the offender is not a compulsory parasite, but appears to survive in certain soils and in the vegetation independently of animal hosts. Their parasitism is therefore accidental and non-essential to their survival.
The trombidian parasite usually found in Europe is the Trombidium Holosericeum or silky trombidium, so small (in its larval state) that it is just visible to the naked eye as a bright scarlet point when moving on a dark background. It was formerly called Leptus Autumnalis and is familiarly known as the red beast, bete rouge, harvest bug, etc. The common American species is of a dull brick red, so that it is less easily detected even on a dark background. It is familiarly known as the jigger, though quite distinct from the chigoe or burrowing flea of the West Indies.
The domestic herbivora get these parasites on the nose and lips while browsing on the pastures and contract an intolerable itching which may lead to violent rubbing, abrasions and scabby exudations. The skin becomes thickened, scabby and rigid, and as new accessions are constantly received the malady continues until cold weather sets in. The affection is not in any sense dangerous, and the attacks may be warded off by a daily application of one of the common parasiticides—decoction of tobacco, tar water, solution of creolin, naphthalin, etc. The mere seclusion of the infested animal indoors, without green food, will cure, as the larvæ pass through their parasitic stage in a few days and drop off.