Of Mites And Man.

I.Observations and Questions.

As the article states the author had two observations that prompted him to explore the question or possibility of the transmission of the ear mite, Octodectes cynotis, to human beings. The first observation made by the author was in the case of a woman who had brought in two cats severely infested with ear mites to be examined. Accompanied by her 3 year old daughter who had been complaining of an itchy chest and abdomen, the mother stated that not only did here daughter hold the cats like dolls for extended periods of time, but she had numerous small red abdominal bite marks that were the cause of the itching. The second observation occurred a year later when the same client brought in another cat with a sever ear mite infestation. This time it was the woman who complained of bites on her ankles.

Ears

Torn Ear

Ear mite

Subsequently in both cases the itching and bites had subsided along with the treatment of the cat's ear mite infestations.

II.Hypothesis and Prediction.

A proper analysis for this article would seem to be that, though both of the women experienced some symptoms from ear mites caused by contact with ear mite infested cats, neither of the women had actual infestations of their own bodies.

I believe that the hypothesis of, do humans only experience superficial symptoms caused by ear mites because they are immune, or is transmission, and ultimate infection possible, seems fitting for this article.

An if/then statement for this article would be one like "If humans are not immune to ear mites and transmission and infestation of the human ear is possible; then are natural occurrences of infestations also possible?"

III.Experimentation.

In each of the three experiments the author obtained ear mites from a cat's ear and identified...