FEATURES OF THE PATHOLOGY DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN DEMODICOSIS. REVIEW

Abstract

Relevance. Demodex is the most common parasite found on humans, and yet little is known about its pathogenicity in
relation to the ocular surface. The growing interest in demodex over the past 20 years has expanded our understanding of
this tick and its pathogenetic role. Despite the growing interest in demodex in the literature, numerous obstacles remain for
future research, so the section of this review is devoted to identifying and proposing for future consideration. The lack of
uniformity in terms of terminology, diagnostic methods and approach to the treatment of demodex remains an obstacle to
future comparisons of studies. This review summarizes current knowledge about demodex and hopes to offer some
recommendations for future directions in the study of demodex in humans.
Search strategy. The study examined full-text publications in English and Russian, which are devoted features of the
pathology development of human demodicosis. In the process of searching for literature, the following search engines were
used: Pubmed, Web of science, Cyberleninka, Google Scholar by keywords. The time period was designated 2007-2022.
299 publications were identified on this topic. Of these, 61 publications corresponded to the purpose of our study. Inclusion
criteria: Publications of the level of evidence A, B: meta-analyses, systematic reviews, cohort and cross-sectional studies.
Exclusion criteria: summary reports, newspaper articles and personal messages.
Results and conclusions. Papulopustular rosacea and demodecosis are common facial skin diseases that can be
difficult to diagnose clinically. In addition to well-known clinical signs such as vascular signs and papules, in our study of
patients with known papulopustular rosacea or demodecosis, we have shown that other clinical signs are also often present
(inconspicuous follicular scales on the face, dandruff, folliculitis on the scalp, itching of the face or scalp). Therefore, the
presence of these signs and symptoms should encourage dermatologists to conduct further diagnostic tests (for example,
the recently described test based on the high density of demodex mites observed in these conditions) to ensure an accurate
diagnosis.