Collembola are a great little lineage of hexapods known as springtails (thought to not quite be insects) that are almost as cute as jumping spiders or woodlice, the cutest of any invertebrates if you ask me. They are not even just cute-they are cosmopolitan in distribution and very dense in quantity, but they have essentially zero horrific aspects. Sure, they can jump. But they are tiny, and they cannot bite or sting.
But alas, it has come to my attention that some of my favorite hexapods, the Collembola, have been maligned. There are people who are quite certain that they have been ‘infested’ by Collembola and that their symptoms of itching and crawling are caused by springtails living/infesting their skin. In my internet wanderings I stumbled onto an internet forum that, to be entirely honest, scared me.
I would dismiss this as just speculation but it appears some people are taking it way too far. They start with the traditional anti-doctor scare tactics, talking about how doctors will merely laugh a sufferer of ‘Collembola Infestation’ out the door or take large sums of their money. The forum-goers propose a regimen of very dangerous and completely unnecessary treatments that make literally no sense in terms of springtail biology. I will outline a few recommended treatments here:
1. The Sunburn: Apparently, allowing yourself to tan to the point of a sunburn will allow you to peel the skin off with the springtails inside.
2. The Bleach Bath: In addition, bathing in heavily diluted bleach will kill some of the springtails. Sound safe? Aside from bleach being, say, highly toxic? Definitely.
3. Diatomaceous Earth: Rubbing yourself down with it. This is likely stemming from the fact that diatomaceous earth is great at killing certain insects. True, but could also be irritating and wont kill things that don’t exist. It’s also murder for your lungs.
4. Hygiene: Let us discuss why the ideas regarding hygiene are so deeply flawed.
- The author of the post indicates that sheets should be changed every day as this is where the springtails nest, which is false. So false it hurts. Springtails need lots of moisture and organic matter, and a bed will hopefully provide very little organic matter and even less moisture.
- Changing vacuum bags every day will not do anything, as something like a springtail would not have the smarts to purposely crawl out of a vacuum bag (where it would die of desiccation extremely quickly) to the ground and then find somewhere where it could survive. It just wouldn’t happen since the springtail would be dead pretty quickly.
So what do I think could cause this ‘disease?’
There are two options that I see. One is a legitimate infection by a parasite, like scabies, chiggers, or a nematode like the species that can cause Cutaneous Larval Migrans. If any symptoms like crawling and itching combined with rashes appear, go to a doctor. It is not Collembola no matter what your local snake oil vendor or health ‘guru’ might say.
The other option, and probably the most likely, is Morgellons and/or Delusional Parasitosis. Both of these essentially convince a patient that they have a nasty parasite or disease and it is very difficult to persuade them otherwise.
So long story short, it is not a springtail infestation unless you are filthy enough to maintain your own fungal communities and a nice thick layer of detritus. Most people are not. Any springtail found on a person is completely lost and will not survive. In the home, springtails will likely not survive too long unless they have access to wetness. Either way, they won’t hurt you.