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The following text is from an archived Red Book® edition and may not reflect current recommendations or information. To view the current edition, click here.
Section 3. Summaries of Infectious Diseases
Lymphatic Filariasis
(Bancroftian, Malayan, and Timorian)Clinical Manifestations
Etiology
Epidemiology
Diagnostic Tests
Treatment
Isolation of the Hospitalized Patient
Control Measures
CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS: Most filarial infections are asymptomatic. Early in infection, symptoms often are caused by an acute inflammatory response in the lymphatic vessels, triggered by death of adult worms. Headache, myalgia, and lymphadenitis can develop with acute inflammation. The acute disease may manifest as early as 3 months after acquisition. However, initial damage to the lymphatic system generally remains subclinical for years. Over time, moderate lymphadenopathy occurs, particularly involving the inguinal lymph nodes. Inflammation secondary to adult worm death in the lymphatics of the extremities and genitalia leads to adenolymphangitis that characteristically is retrograde. Epididymitis, orchitis, and funiculitis also can occur in bancroftian filariasis and may be accompanied by fever, chills, and other nonspecific systemic symptoms. Lymphatic dysfunction, with resulting chronically progressive edema of the limbs and genitalia, is rare in children. In a few people, elephantiasis can result from fibrosis caused by chronic dysfunction of the lymphatic channels and recurrent secondary bacterial infections. Chyluria can occur as a manifestation of bancroftian filariasis. Cough, fever, marked eosinophilia, and high serum immunoglobulin E concentrations are the manifestations of the tropical pulmonary eosinophilia syndrome.
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ETIOLOGY: Filariasis is caused by the following 3 filarial nematodes: Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori.
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EPIDEMIOLOGY: The parasite is transmitted by the bite of infected species of various genera of mosquitoes, including Culex, Aedes, Anopheles, and Mansonia. Wuchereria bancrofti is found in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guiana, Brazil, sub-Saharan and North Africa, and Asia, extending into a broad zone from India through the Indonesian archipelago into Southern China and Oceania. Humans are the only definitive host for the parasite. Brugia malayi is found
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Related text in Red Book:
- Drugs for Parasitic Infections
Red Book 2003: 744-770.[Extract] [Full Version]
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