probably taken from the Kiswahili word ‘mvunda’ (a maggot), or it may have been derived from the Luganda ‘kuvunda,’ to rot, the causative of which makes ‘kuvunza,’ to make to rot. These jiggers are very tiny white fleas, so small as to be almost invisible to the naked eye, though the natives can see them on their black skins. They burrow under the toe nail, or in the hard part of the heel, and live there, until ejected with the point of a needle; and as the ejection is an operation of considerable pain, the sufferer often prefers to leave in the jiggers for a time, in spite of the irritation caused. The jigger lays a number of eggs in its home in the foot, which, when ready for hatching, fall out on to the ground, and are hatched in the dust; but the mother stays in the foot, and causes serious ulcers, unless ejected.
Jiggers were first brought from the West Indies to West Africa, crossed Uganda en route to the east coast, but were not known
