Lymphatic filariasis is a disease caused by tiny worms that live in the lymphatic system of the human body. It leads to swelling and damage in the limbs, causing painful and disfiguring changes.
Full definition
A major challenge facing mass drug administration (MDA) programmes targeting the control and elimination
of lymphatic filariasis or onchocerciasis
Efforts to eliminate onchocerciasis and
lymphatic filariasis in Central Africa through mass drug administration have been suspended because of ivermectin - associated serious adverse events, including death, in patients infected with the filarial parasite Loa loa.
(MDA has long been used
for lymphatic filariasis and other parasitic diseases but has a checkered history with malaria.)
While medications currently exist to
treat lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, the two main diseases caused by filarial nematodes, the drugs are insufficient to eliminate the diseases by 2020 and researchers project that resistance will arise to some of the drugs.
polynesiensis on Pacific Islands to
combat lymphatic filariasis and its elephantine swellings, plus the aggressively biting tiger mosquito, Ae.
On Monday, the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to William Campbell of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and AAAS member Satoshi Ōmura of Kitasato University in Tokyo, who will share half the prize for discovering the drug avermectin, which has been used to treat river blindness and
lymphatic filariasis as well as other parasitic diseases.
Clinical samples from two groups of individuals from the south Pacific island of Mauke and from Ecuador — one group infected with filarial worms
causing lymphatic filariasis and a second group infected with intestinal roundworms Ascaris — revealed increased levels of resistin in the infected individuals compared to those who were uninfected or immune.
These
include lymphatic filariasis and loiasis, two serious human tropical diseases that are caused by nematode worms and spread by mosquitoes.
Those individuals with high levels of co-infection are the most likely to experience adverse reactions to ivermectin, the deworming drug used to
target lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.
Looking ahead, some of the most exciting news is likely to come in the treatment
of lymphatic filariasis, which infects tens of millions of people, causing severe pain and severe swelling in the limbs and other parts of the body.
Use of this technology to exclude patients from ivermectin - based treatment at the point of care in Loa - endemic regions would allow resumption / expansion of mass drug administration programs for onchocerciasis and
lymphatic filariasis in Central Africa.
But the system has seen success in some areas recently, like limiting the spread of HIV and
lymphatic filariasis.
1) African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, Dengue, Leishmaniasis, Leprosy,
Lymphatic filariasis, Malaria, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, and Tuberculosis.
To safely administer ivermectin for onchocerciasis or
lymphatic filariasis in regions co-endemic with L. loa, a strategy termed «test and (not) treat» has been proposed whereby those with high levels of L. loa microfilariae (> 30,000 / ml) that put them at risk for life - threatening serious adverse events are identified and excluded from mass drug administration.
Collectively known as neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, these illnesses include leprosy, rabies, blinding trachoma and
lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis).
In a paper published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B the team, including LSTM's Dr Lisa Reimer, uses modelling and surveillance data to investigate the relationship between spatial and individual heterogeneity in the context of
lymphatic filariasis, finding that both measures are qualitatively different with profoundly different policy implications.
Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is caused by a species of filarial round worms, or nematodes, transmitted by mosquitoes.
The Tool can visualize the geographical distribution of all of the main preventative chemotherapy (PCT) NTDs: schistosomiasis, soil - transmitted helminths,
lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis and blinding trachoma.
Public health stakeholders from Myanmar are taking steps to improve the mapping and surveillance of leprosy,
lymphatic filariasis and trachoma, LASER...
A major challenge facing mass drug administration (MDA) programmes targeting the control and elimination of
lymphatic filariasis or onchocerciasis is the serious adverse - sometimes life threatening - reactions that this treatment can have on people who are also infected with loisasis.
GAHI shows the geographical distribution of neglected tropical diseases transmitted by worms: soil - transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis, and
lymphatic filariasis.
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), such as dengue,
lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, and leishmaniasis, are called «neglected,» because they generally afflict the world's poor and historically have not received as much attention as other diseases.
In 1998, Merck expanded the program to include the elimination of another disease,
lymphatic filariasis.
Lymphatic filariasis can lead to swelling of the limbs and genitals, called elephantiasis, and it's primarily a threat in Africa and Asia.