BACKGROUND Filarial parasites (e.g., Brugia malayi, Onchocerca volvulus, and Wuchereria bancrofti) are causative agents of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, which are among the most disabling of neglected tropical diseases. There is an urgent need to develop macro-filaricidal drugs, as current anti-filarial chemotherapy (e.g., diethylcarbamazine [DEC], ivermectin and albendazole) can int...

The larvicidal efficacy of Vernonia cinerea leaf extracts against the common filarial vector, Culex quinquefasciatus was determined. Ground Vernonia cinerea leaves were sequentially extracted with ethyl acetate, chloroform, acetone and methanol. A series of concentrations of the extracts ranging from 0.05 – 2 mg/ml were tested against third instar larvae using WHO protocol and their percentage ...

Accidental infection with animal filarial worms in humans is a dilemma for clinicians and parasitologists throughout the world. To date a variety of such rare parasitoses have been reported mostly in tropics and subtropics. Human dirofilariasis is among those unusual zoonotic infections that occasionally have been observed in the eye and in subcutaneous areas exhibiting with nodule formation. F...

every Fijian is the subject of filariasis. These reasons, together with the preceding (1) are: (a) adult filarioe are to be found in the lymphatics and other tissues without the presence in the blood of corresponding microfilariae ; (b) a large proportion of Fijians are effected with what in common with others I regard as filarial disease, and in whom no microfilarire can be found in the blood....

A safe, f ield-usable chemotherapeutic agent that will rapidly kill adult filarial worms is urgently needed in tropical medicine. Ivermectin, distributed as Mectizan by Merck & Co. Inc., has had an enormous impact on two major human filarial infections of developing countries, onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis [1]. However, this agent works primarily against the microfilarial stage and la...

BACKGROUND A better understanding of reproductive processes in parasitic nematodes may lead to development of new anthelmintics and control strategies for combating disabling and disfiguring neglected tropical diseases such as lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis. Transcriptomatic analysis has provided important new insights into mechanisms of reproduction and development in other invertebra...

BACKGROUND Children born from filarial infected mothers are comparatively more susceptible to filarial infection than the children born to uninfected mothers. But the mechanism of such increased susceptibility to infection in early childhood is not exactly known. Several studies have shown the association of active filarial infection with T cell hypo-responsiveness which is mediated by regulato...

This study examined circulating filarial antigen by monoclonal antibody Og4C3-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from 114 men with hydrocele, living in an endemic area. Nocturnal blood and hydrocele fluid were collected and examined for microfilaria. ELISA was performed on serum and hydrocele fluid for detection of antigen. Amongst 114 cases, 5(4.4%) showed microfilaria in blood but none...