1. Wuchereria bancrofti infection at four primary schools and surrounding communities with no previous blood surveys in northern Uganda: the prevalence after mass drug administrations and a report on suspected non-filarial endemic elephantiasis
- Author
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Emmanuel Igwaro Odongo-Aginya, Alex Olia, Kilama Justin Luwa, Eiji Nagayasu, Anna Mary Auma, Geoffrey Egitat, Gerald Mwesigwa, Yoshitaka Ogino, Eisaku Kimura, and Toshihiro Horii
- Subjects
Wuchereria bancrofti ,Prevalence ,Mass drug administration ,Podoconiosis ,Uganda ,Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine ,RC955-962 - Abstract
Abstract Background A prevalence study of Wuchereria bancrofti infection was carried out in 2014 at 4 study sites in northern Uganda using antigen and microfilaria tests. Each study site consists of a primary school and surrounding communities. These sites are inside the filariasis endemic area and have been covered by mass drug administration under the national elimination programme. However, no prevalence study had been conducted there before the present study. Without information on past and present endemicity levels, our study was meant to be an independent third-party investigation to know the latest filariasis situation. Results A total of 982 people including 570 schoolchildren (7โ19 years) and 412 community people (7โ25 years) were examined, all of them for filarial antigen and 695 for microfilariae. The study revealed that all subjects were negative by both methods. Conclusions It was considered that annual mass drug administrations together with anti-malarial activities such as indoor residual spraying had contributed to the reduction of the filarial infection. However, based on the past data obtained near our study sites, we cannot exclude the possibility that filarial prevalence rates in our study sites were very low or even zero originally. During the study, we encountered several patients with lower leg edema and pachydermic (elephant skin-like), mossy skin lesion of the foot. Judging from clinical features and bare-footed life-style of people in the area, non-filarial elephantiasis, possibly podoconiosis, was suspected. This elephantiasis has been reported in areas where filariasis is not endemic.
- Published
- 2017
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