Caution!

I must warn you that the following video is...gross! My son found it at You tube and we were all so excited to see someone else who had experienced the famous "NIGUA" ! I must say, I never thought to video the extraction of one.

I posted about all the critters one finds in the jungle and mentioned how that I once had several of these egg sacks embedded under my toe nail which resulted in having to remove the toenail, cut out the eggs and required stitches to close the wound.

Here is what I wrote about niguas:

Another most annoying bug is the nigua. The nigua is everywhere. Due to the dirt floors and the constant contact one has with the dirt and with others who also happen to have niguas, you can never truly avoid this bug. Some refer to it as a burrowing tic, but it is rightly, a sand flea. It is almost impossible to see with the naked eye, but it makes itself known!!!


The nigua will burrow into any exposed skin, most commonly the toes, but also the hands and in small children who play on the floor, I have seen them on the babies bottoms. They must be removed. This is best done with a small thorn from a bush the indians use for this very purpose. I used a needle so that it could be disinfected. Another way to prevent them, is to step in kerosene daily. During dry season, I would keep a shallow pan near the door for this purpose. We also would wash our chancletas (flip flops) in kerosene. Kerosene has no lead so was safe to use in this way.


An indian boy was brought to us once who had both feet so infected by niguas, he could not walk. We had to clean and remove infectious tissue for several days. The Sanema of a certain village were so inundated with niguas, that every member of the village could show you scarred and missing digits from their feet, caused by niguas.

I would love to know how many of you actually watch the entire video!