One very successful repellent is called Zanzarin, a derivative of coconut oil, jojoba oil, and aloe vera. In a recent study involving two cohorts, the infestation rates dropped 92% on average for the first one and 90% for the other. Likewise, the intensity of the cohorts dropped by 86% and 87% respectively. The non-toxic nature of Zanzarin, combined with its "remarkable regression of the clinical pathology" make this a tenable public health tool against tungiasis.The use of pesticide, like DDT, has also led to elimination of the Tunga penetrans, but this control/prevention strategy should be utilized very carefully, if at all, because of the possible side effects such pesticides can have on the greater biosphere. In the 1950s, there was a worldwide effort to eradicate malaria. As part of that effort, Mexico launched the Campaña Nacional para la Erradicación de Paludismo, or the National Campaign for the Eradication of Malaria. By spraying DDT in homes, the Anopheles a genus of mosquitoes known to carry the deadly Plasmodium falciparum was mostly eliminated. As a consequence of this national campaign, other arthropods were either eliminated or significantly reduced in number, including the reduviid bug responsible for Chagas disease (American Trypanosomiasis) and T. penetrans.
Oral niridazole was once considered a therapeutic drug, but well-designed studies are lacking and, given the severe adverse effects, this is one drug that is likely to cause more harm than good. However, it has some anecdotal evidence of lysing the fleas altogether. Oral ivermectin is considered by some in endemic areas to be a panacea against the fleas but studies using high doses have failed to validate this hypothesis. Other drugs such as topical ivermectin and metrifonate have been somewhat successful, but not enough to be significant. [2,5] For superinfections, trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole, metronidazole, amoxicillin, (with/without clavulanate) have been used successfully, though these treat only secondary infections.Successful topical treatments also include cryotherapy and electrodesiccation of the lesion. If formaldehyde, chloroform, or DDT are used topically, care should be taken when dealing with the resulting morbidity. The T. penetrans flea can also be suffocated using occlusive petrolatum, while Vaseline will kill the organism as well, most likely due to suffocation as the stigmata would be covered. The gum of the mammee apple (Mammea americana), a fruit that also goes by the name Saint Domingo apricot, has also been used to kill the chigoe flea, though this has not been reported in the main T. penetrans literature.Even without treatment, the burrowed fleas will die within five weeks and are naturally sloughed off as the skin sheds. Epidemiology
For the most part, the chigoe flea lives 2–5 cm below the sand, an observation which helps explains its overall distribution.