“These are in my couch and I’ve had them get on me,” begins this reader in her query to us. Her issue concerns organisms which “start out” as “clear circles with a black dot in the center”, which are causing symptoms and concern.

To begin with, we must make clear that, since our reader has reported experiencing symptoms as a result of these organisms’ appearance, we cannot identify them. This is because our reader’s situation is clearly medical in nature, and as we are not medical professionals, we are neither qualified to diagnose people’s medical problems nor give advice about them.

That said, we will do what we can, which includes relaying our reader’s story in the hopes that it might help others who can relate, and will thus benefit from the information in this article. More importantly, we can also point our reader in the direction of some resources she might use to consult a medical professional about her issue.

Our reader is based in the country of Kentucky and states that she has gotten these organisms under her nails (see images above) and “they sting when the eggs get on you.” She adds that the organisms tend to leave “a wet spot before the eggs hatch”, and she has “never seen anything like this.” The photograph below shows us what our reader combed out of her hair.

Now, we get quite a few submissions from readers who are seeking medical advice because of some organism that is bothering them, one way or another. What we always recommend is that they seek the advice of an infectious disease specialist, rather than their primary care doctor/GP.

This is because, generally speaking, a primary care doctor will not have received training in parasitology, unfortunately. That is not to say that these are parasites, but parasitology is generally concerned with organism-related health issues. In any case, due to this lack of training, doctors have, in the past, turned away patients with scorn and called them delusional. We do not wish this upon our reader, and would rather she go straight to someone who will take her problem seriously.

That is why we recommend seeking a specialist; an infectious disease physician is able to diagnose and treat parasitic, fungal and bacterial infections, and more! If our reader is not sure where she can find such a specialist, she needs not fret because we have got her covered.

What we can recommend is that our reader do one or more of the following:

1) Search for a medical parasitologist in her city in Kentucky using this directory of medical parasitology consultants: https://www.astmh.org/for-astmh-members/clinical-consultants-directory.
2) Search for a local parasitologist by doing a Google search for “medical parasitologist (name of the closest big city in Kentucky)” or “tropical medicine specialist (name of the closest big city in Kentucky)”.
3) Get in touch with Dr. Omar Amin at the Parasitology Center at https://www.parasitetesting.com.

Whoever she decides to consult, we recommend that our reader shows them the photos she sent us, and gives them as much context surrounding her situation as she can.

In conclusion, it is clear that our reader is concerned about the organisms she has been finding in her couch and on herself. We sympathize with her, and wish we could do more to help and quell our reader’s worries. Lastly, we hope that the resources listed above come to use and that our reader gets the answers she is looking for soon! We wish her the very best.

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