ORPHA:879
Tungiasis
Publications
682
86th percentile
Trials
2
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
875
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
2/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
Tungiasis is a parasitic skin disease caused by the female sand flea Tunga penetrans. The disease is characterized by acute (multiple white, gray, or yellowish papular or nodular lesions with brown-black-colored opening at the center and peripheral erythema) and chronic inflammation in the feet with itchy/ painful lesions. Bacterial superinfection is common and result in debilitating clinical pathology (deep ulcers, gangrene, lymphangitis and septicemia), leading to impaired physical fitness and mobility. Tungiasis also involves hyperkeratosis, fissuration, nail hypertrophy, and loss of nails.
How rare: How common this is has not been clearly measured.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
- MONDO:0019498
- MeSH:D058285
- UMLS:C0277356
Additional Mondo synonyms (3)
Tunga penetrans caused disease or disorder · Tunga penetrans disease or disorder · Tunga penetrans infectious disease
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
2/6 stages with a signal
An interventional trial matched this condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov — see trials below.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
682 matched papers (330 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO
- Animal modelNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance
- Orphan designationNot checked
FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet
- Interventional trialPresent
2 matched on ClinicalTrials.gov (1 recruiting in sample)
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
Not enriched in this build.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
682
682 papers have been published on this condition. That is a real research literature — still far smaller than common diseases (breast cancer: over 700,000 papers). Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.
682 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).
330 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 86th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 682 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
875
Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
People publishing on this condition (sampled Europe PMC records). Affiliation is the most recent found in that sample.
- 01Elson L31 papers · 2026
WAJIMIDA Jigger Campaign, Dabaso Tujengane CBO, Watamu, Kenya.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Feldmeier H31 papers · 2026
Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Fillinger U26 papers · 2026
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Human Health Theme, Thomas Odhiambo Campus, Mbita, Kenya.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Mutebi F22 papers · 2026
College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Krücken J16 papers · 2026
Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: Juergen.Kruecken@fu-berlin.de.
Papers in Europe PMC - 06Matharu AK12 papers · 2026
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Human Health Theme, Nairobi 00100, Kenya.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Harvey TV11 papers · 2026
Department of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Post-Graduate Program in Animal Science, State University of Santa Cruz, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rodovia Jorge Amado, Km 16, Bairro Salobrinho, IIhéus, Bahia, CEP 45662-900, Brazil. tatianivitor@yahoo.com.br.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Carlos RSA10 papers · 2026
Department of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Post-Graduate Program in Animal Science, State University of Santa Cruz, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rodovia Jorge Amado, Km 16, Bairro Salobrinho, IIhéus, Bahia, CEP 45662-900, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Heukelbach J10 papers · 2026
Department of Community Health, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Rua Prof. Costa Mendes 1608, 5. andar, Fortaleza, CE, 60430-140, Brazil.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Thielecke M10 papers · 2026
Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charité University Medicine, Berlin 10117, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
2
interventional trials for this specific condition
2 interventional trials matched this specific condition name; 1 currently recruiting in our sample.
Data as of 27 July 2026
2 interventional trials — more than 73% of diseases in the trials denominator have none at all (5114 of 7003; this disease is at the 82.4th percentile).
medium confidence · 82.4th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
2 interventional trials matched after quoted-phrase search and title/condition post-filter.
- NCT07506967·NOT YET RECRUITING·Early Detection and AI-Based Management of Skin-Related Neglected Tropical Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa by Frontline Health Workers
Conditions: Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases · Neglected Tropical Diseases · Leprosy · Buruli Ulcer·Matched via name phrase
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"Tungiasis" OR "Tunga penetrans infectious disease"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Tungiasis" OR "Tunga penetrans infectious disease"
Interventional trials matched via: phrase (mesh = registered under a MeSH descriptor no name phrase would catch; recall-expansion = gene / selected parent terms used only for trials).
Study-type breakdown: 2 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Synonyms dropped by stoplist: Tunga penetrans caused disease or disorder; Tunga penetrans disease or disorder
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is short or not clearly distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-26T15:43:53.752Z