Avian mite dermatitis: an Italian case indicating theestablishment and spread of Ornithonyssus bursa(Acari: Gamasida: Macronyssidae) (Berlese, 1888) in Europe

Background: Avian mite dermatitis is a skin disease caused in mammals by the incidentalbites of blood-sucking mites which customarily parasitize wild and domestic birds. Itmanifests in the form of pruritic, erythematous, or urticarial papules, with a central stingmark, in skin regions normally covered by clothing. The species mainly implicated inhuman bite cases are Dermanyssus gallinae, Ornithonyssus sylviarum and, less frequently,Ornithonyssus bursa. The latter is mainly a tropical and subtropical mite and its –presumably transitory – presence has been recorded only once in Europe, in migratorybirds.Case report: We report a case of avian mite dermatitis in a 70-year-old man, an owner ofchickens, who lived in Sicily, an island in southern Italy. He presented with an itching,erythematous, papular eruption. Numerous mites were seen racing across his skin. Theprecise identification of O. bursa was based on the morphology of its plates and cheliceraeand on the arrangement of its setae.Conclusions: Not only does this paper report the first European case of human infestationwith O. bursa, it provides evidence that this alien species has settled and spread in the OldContinent. It may have been flown in from a small focus reported in Danish migratory birdsin the 1980s or may have been accidentally introduced into Italy through the importation ofinfested poultry from South America. Such occurrences may have unpredictableepidemiological and ecological consequences. More comprehensive veterinary inspection of imported birds is desirable