A friend returned from Mexican beach resort in March, and since then has
had persistent pruritis that's been dx'd as fleabite allergy. However,
the doc admits that itching severe enough to awaken the person from a
sound sleep (after 2-3 hours sleep) every single night is considered
quite unsual for this diagnosis. I suspected chiggers, since the itching
greatly increases in severity in the evenings, but the doc has done
"scrapings" to rule this out. Approximately 150 foci ("flea" bites) have
been counted.
My questions:
Would the "scrapings" technique rule out chiggers?
Are there other parasitic (arthropods or others) from that part of the
world (or here in SF Bay Area) that could cause problems of such intensity
and duration?
Is a dermatologist the best choice in such a case?
If this is caused by something other than flea bites, is there any
problem with taking the shots of Prednisone?
Do you have any other suggestions for my friend? Questions he should
ask the doctors? Or?
Thanks in advance...
--
Kathleen Anderson
vstr18a at mercury.sfsu.edu
