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Review
. 2020 May 15;10(5):308.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics10050308.

Who Bites Me? A Tentative Discriminative Key to Diagnose Hematophagous Ectoparasites Biting Using Clinical Manifestations

Mohammad Akhoundi  1 , Denis Sereno  2   3 , Anthony Marteau  1 , Christiane Bruel  4 , Arezki Izri  1
Affiliations
Review

Who Bites Me? A Tentative Discriminative Key to Diagnose Hematophagous Ectoparasites Biting Using Clinical Manifestations

Mohammad Akhoundi et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Arthropod blood feeders are vectors of several human pathogenic agents, including viruses (e.g., yellow fever, chikungunya, dengue fever), parasites (e.g., malaria, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis), or bacteria (e.g., plague). Besides their role as a vector of pathogens, their biting activities cause a nuisance to humans. Herein, we document clinical symptoms associated with the biting of ten clusters of hematophagous arthropods, including mosquitoes, biting midges and sandflies, lice, ticks, tsetse flies, blackflies, horse flies, fleas, triatomine and bed bugs. Within the framework of clinical history and entomo-epidemiological information, we propose a tentative discriminative key that can be helpful for practicing physicians in identifying hematophagous arthropods biting humans and delivering treatment for the associated clinical disorders.

Keywords: bite spot; blood feeding; clinical manifestation; diagnosis; hematophagous arthropods.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hematophagous arthropods feeding on human blood.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Clinical manifestations following hematophagous arthropods biting.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Clinical manifestations of arthropods bite spots. Due to similarities in clinical manifestation and blood feeding activity, the mosquitoes, sandflies and biting midges grouped together.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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