XXV 
PESTS : JIGGERS, TICKS, AND MOSQUITOES. 
In Uganda there are four insects so abundant and 
so troublesome to man that they are very properly 
placed in the category of pests. These four insects 
are the sand flea, the tick, the mosquito, and the 
tsetse fly. 
The Sand Flea, also known as Chigger or Jigger, 
corruptions of Chigoe, its West Indian name, formerly 
confined to the tropical parts of America and the West 
Indies, was carried to the west coast of Africa by 
trading-vessels and appeared in that country about 
1872 ; the parasite subsequently spread over the 
greater part of the continent. 
In Uganda jiggers are ubiquitous; Dr. Albert E. 
Cook, of the Medical Mission, Mengo, states that they 
appeared in Uganda in 1891, having apparently been 
carried across Africa by Stanley’s last expedition. 
Stanley’s men on that occasion did not actually enter 
Uganda, but many Baganda who had been driven out 
of their country by a revolution met with Stanley’s 
expedition and brought jiggers to Uganda. Following 
the caravan route they slowly made their way down to 
the coast, which they reached in 1899. Till the 
natives realised the nature of this disease, jiggers 
caused great damage, and the loss of many toes. 
This flea inhabits the dust of native huts : it is 
somewhat smaller than the ordinary flea and possesses 
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