Comprehensive Assessment of a Hotspot with Persistent Bancroftian Filariasis in Coastal Sri Lanka

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Ramakrishna U RaoGary J Weil

Abstract

The Sri Lankan Anti-Filariasis campaign distributed five rounds of mass drug administration (MDA with diethylcarbamazine plus albendazole) to some 10 million people in eight districts between 2002 and 2006. Sri Lanka was recognized by the WHO for having eliminated lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem in 2016. However, recent studies by our group documented pockets with persistent LF in coastal Sri Lanka, especially in Galle district. The present study was performed to reexamine an area previously identified as a potential hotspot for persistent LF (Balapitiya Public Health Inspector area, population 17,500). A community survey documented high rates for circulating filarial antigenemia (3%, confidence interval [CI]: 1.8-4.9) and microfilaremia (1%, CI: 0.5-2.5%). Circulating filarial antigenemia rates were 2.8-fold higher in males than females. High prevalence was also observed for anti-filarial antibodies in young children (5.7%, CI: 3.7-8.4%) and for filarial DNA in vector mosquitoes (5.2%, CI: 4.2-6.3%). Spatial data showed that persistent LF was dispersed across the entire study area. Other studies showed that persistent LF was not limited to Balapitiya and not solved by additional rounds of MDA. Molecular xe...Continue Reading

References

Feb 1, 1991·Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology·A S Dissanaike
Jul 1, 1966·The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene·M H AbdulcaderL Aponso
Dec 19, 2006·Trends in Parasitology·Gary J Weil, Reda M R Ramzy
Oct 12, 2014·Parasites & Vectors·Jorge CanoSimon J Brooker
May 26, 2017·PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases·Julie R Harris, Ryan E Wiegand

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Apr 2, 2020·The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene·Abel EigegeFrank O Richards
Jan 31, 2020·Frontiers in Genetics·Shannon M HedtkeWarwick N Grant
Jan 9, 2021·Parasitology Research·Negar BizhaniMohammad Bagher Rokni
Nov 2, 2020·International Journal of Infectious Diseases : IJID : Official Publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases·Paul S WeissFrank O Richards
Dec 29, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Mary M Cameron, Anita Ramesh
Apr 28, 2021·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·Joseph Pryce, Lisa J Reimer

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Methods Mentioned

BETA
MDA
PCR
enzyme linked immunosorbent assay
ELISA

Software Mentioned

GraphPad Prism
PoolScreen
SAS
LINKS
Excel
ArcGIS

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anthelmintics

Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them and without causing significant damage to the host. Discover the latest research on anthelmintics here.

Anthelmintics (ASM)

Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them and without causing significant damage to the host. Discover the latest research on anthelmintics here.