Collembola Solutions

If any, or all of the symptoms below ring true, you may have to consider the possibility of an infestation by one of the world's oldest bug or Arthropod, which in some cases along with the fungus that it feeds on, may infest humans and their living spaces. Here are some signs and symptoms of human infestation and some possible solutions.

Do you  have the sensation of tiny or invisible bugs crawling on you leaving a variety of painful or itchy bites? Then you have probably checked out the likelihood of bedbugs, bird mites and sarcoptic mites only to be turned away by bewildered doctors and pest control specialists.

Do these sensations seem to come in waves like "moving dust"? Then you have probably been pegged by the medical community as having Delusory Parasitosis.

Does it feel like you have things landing in your eyelashes? Collembola are springloaded and can jump up to eight inches.

Did you have a sudden, unexplained chest rash, followed by any combination of: fever, ear infection, respiratory problems or urinary tract discomfort? These tiny creatures, although not well suited to the human body, may seek fungus growing on the skin in damp dark feeding sites like nasal passages, ears and genitalia. Initial infection may cause a burning sensation in lungs and on chest, followed by a fever while your body acclimates to it's new hitchikers. The 400 million year old predecessors of Collembola are tiny swamp bugs that helped to decompose rotting matter. There are possibly upwards of 30,000 varieties of Collembola and it is reported in credible research that in the last several decades, at least one variety seems to have developed a habit of human infestation.

Do you have small painful bumps along your hairline? There is some cause for concern that these could be egg sites or possibly, an introduced fungal infection that they feed on.

Do you feel tickling on your face or body only to find small pieces of sand-like material left there? Collembola sheds their exoskeleton as they mature - this hard grainy material could be the cast-off shell. Collembola mature very rapidly and seem to hatch by the thousands but only a few that reach full maturity and become jumpers, seem to stay with you. Where do the rest go? Probably back to the earth from whence they came. 

These symptoms are very alarming and can cause people to isolate and completely shut down. The loss of sleep and appetite that cxan accompany this syndrome can cause people to experience a kind of post traumatic stress syndrome and even feel suicidal.. Losing the ability to perform any task but obsessive cleaning gives the appearance of Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder(OCD). Many walk away from their lives and goals entirely, trying to outrun this creepy, infuriating and tenacious mysterious scourge and to try figure out what the heck it is. Is it Collembola?

The name Collembola, derived from the Greek "coll" meaning glue and "embol" meaning a wedge, refers to a peg-shaped structure, the collophore, on the underside of the first abdominal segment.  The collophore was once thought to function as an adhesive organ.

Many complain that they feel a stabbing pain followed by itch and small red welts, sometimes leaving open sores with a sugary crust that take forever to heal. Anyone who has tried every known soap and solvent to remove these creatures from clothes and bedding would guess that they "glue" themselves and their eggs to the seams of your clothing, (seemingly enabling them to ride out very high heat wash and drying) and possibly hair follicles. This problem reportedly can last months or years. I refuse to believe there is no cure. It's a bug, But what is its nature and what is the solution to its eradication as a human pest?

Those who have been working through trial and error testing and gathering data from sufferers have noted that this affliction does not effect people equally. Most of those experiencing this problem are women and a few men over the age of 50. Underlying health issues indicating immune system weakness may predispose you to this problem. Even a toenail fungus could make you attractive to them so start building your immune system now. That is the first line of defense. 

These are subjective, "anecdotal" reports and we need scientific, "empirical" data to be put together by experts. Even the experts in infestation have pointed this out.

I want to start a organization supported by sufferers of this syndrome to help fund researchers in their quest to understand how Collembola operate, the fungus they feed on that lives on human skin, what the conditions are that attract this pestilence to a person, and what can be done to stop this problem. This web log will be a one stop shop for all scientific information regarding this subject. You are not alone! 

Judging from the number of hits on Collembola forums, hundreds of thousands of people are effected by this problem. The medical establishment is way behind the eight ball in this area, so we will have to organize and do it ourselves. While there may be some people with delusional parasitosis, there have to be many thousands who have an actual affliction. How can you be sure? Because they all report exactly the same symptoms.

Anyone interested in contributing to this new venture can contact me at collembolasolution@gmail.com .  I will be organizing the collection of data relating to symptoms, effective treatments, knowledgeable health care personnel, etc.

I will be identifying credentialed, qualified scientific researchers to support with funding provide by us, the sufferers, their friends and family. Reliable reports of this problem have been in the scientific literature for almost 7 decades, yet nothing has been done to find a solution.

Only the sufferers will be motivated enough to get this critically important work done. When the going gets tough, the tough get going!! If you are someone who would like to get their life back, join this effort to find the COLLEMBOLA SOLUTION.

Killing Collembola

Abiotic factors (lethal conditions): In Hypogastruridae, (which are Collembola from the USA).

the development is impacted as follows: 1. the lethal temperatures are -4°C (28 degrees Fahrenheit) and 28°C,(82.4 Fahrenheit)  2. the optimum temperature range is 9°C (48.2 degrees Fahrenheit)  to 12°C (53,6 degrees Fahrenheit) , 3. the hygrometric optimum is 98-100% relative humidity; 4. the lethal hygrometric minimum is 93% relative humidity (Thibaud, 1970:161-173).

This is gotten from this scientific description of Collembola. http://www.collembola.org/taxa/collembo.htm

This information means they can be killed with temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit (colder than water ice but warmer than dry ice) or above 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit. They also can be killed by desiccation (drying) at under 93% relative humidity which means they require a very moist environment. If you put DRY (but not wet) clothes in a clothes dryer at high heat, that will kill them. If you take a hot bath that should kill them even under the skin except for your head. Your head will have to be heated with a hair dryer at high temperature for as long as you can take it. But you probably need to cut your hair as short as possible. I would guess that 15-30 minutes should do it. Since the gestation period is typically two weeks at room temperature, you will have to do this every day for 2-3 weeks to be sure of having eliminated the problem. Going in a sauna for half an hour per day should also kill them. This all assumes that the problem is Collembola. But I would guess this treatment will also eliminate any other form of skin parasite. They cannot survive off the body for very long because of the lack of moisture. They can only jump about 8 inches at most, so if you stay a few feet away from other people that should prevent them from catching collembola from you. Why? because in order to make that jump, the Collembola have to do it from a wet platform that they have constructed on the platform they are jumping from.. They cannot just jump from anywhere.

The article also says this:

Anthropological perspective: Collembola can be pests principally by virtue of their presence in the home. But in many cases, the Collembola are just annoying 'guests', a nuisance, rather than infestations causing a disease. The infestations are classified as domestic infestations (Collembola found in houses), incidental human infestations (infestations through pot plants in the bedroom, infestations by malfunctioning pooter (pooter is the device used to collect specimens - it looks like this

),

human infestations not associated with dermatitis and human infestations associated with dermatitis. In addition, one can also consider the delusional infestations (psychotic infestations) and the infestations due to 'sample contamination' (clinical errors, laboratory errors).