Backpacker's horror after flea and hundreds of eggs burst out of his FOOT after trip to Tanzania A backpacker was left horrified after a flea and hundreds of eggs burst out of his foot following a trip to Tanzania. Geography graduate Matthew O’Donnell, 22, was unaware a tiny chigoe flea had burrowed into his flesh and was feeding off his blood until weeks later when he had flown back to Britain. He was sitting on his bed at home in East Sussex when he felt a tingling sensation and suddenly the black bug burst through his skin and onto his bedclothes – followed by hundreds of tiny eggs. Mr O’Donnell had spent the summer working as a volunteer in rural Tanzania after completing his studies at Plymouth University and returned at the beginning of September. He had been warned about the chigoe – or jigger flea as it is known locally – but had no idea he had been carrying one in his foot.
