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Lymphatic Filariasis

Lymphatic Filariasis. Jack Prior, Ryan M. Murphy, and Aliya Robbins. What is Lymphatic Filariasis?. Parasitic disease where worms enter the blood stream through numerous mosquito bites over a number of years.

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Lymphatic Filariasis

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  1. Lymphatic Filariasis Jack Prior, Ryan M. Murphy, and Aliya Robbins

  2. What is Lymphatic Filariasis? • Parasitic disease where worms enter the blood stream through numerous mosquito bites over a number of years. • Affects 120 million individuals in over 80 countries in the tropical regions due to stagnant water and poor irrigation systems

  3. Infected Regions

  4. History • Pre-1876 • The only known symptom of this disease was elephantiasis because of its outward appearance. • 600BC • Ancient Hindu medical workers referred to elephantiasis in Sanskrit texts. • 600- 250BC • Men affected by elephantiasis were not allowed to become Buddhist priests. • 10th- 13th Centuries • Persian and European physicians have accurate descriptions of elephantiasis. • 1876 • Joseph Bancroft discovered the parasite that causes lymphatic filariasis in an abscess on the arm of a butcher.

  5. Parasites • White, slender roundworms • Three types: Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, Brugia timori • Live for 5-7 years, produce millions of offspring • Block the lymphatic system • Network of channels and lymph nodes that help maintain fluid levels in the body • Blockage leads to edema (collection of fluid in tissues)

  6. Process of Infection

  7. Symptoms • Fever • Kidney damage • Skin abnormalities due to bacterial infection. • Elephantiasis • Swelling of limbs and genitalia • Male: Enlargement of scrotum, penis retracted under skin, spermatic cords thickened • Female: Long tumorous mass covered by thickened ulcerated skin develops on the vulva

  8. Social Impact of Disease • Sexual Disability • Communities frequently shun those disfigured. • Inability to work • Women with visible signs may never marry or spouses and families will reject them.

  9. Personal Account June/July 1996: 29-participant study done by Jennine Coreil in Haiti • Lack of Mobility: • “I had a child to be baptized and I had to send someone to stand in my place as father” • Embarrassment: • “When I went to school I felt very embarrassed. I didn’t have the desire to go back.” • “The hardest part for me is having to get help from someone to pee”

  10. Personal Accounts • Lack of Knowledge: • “When I was little I was playing in the street and a truck’s tire ran over my feet.” • “I thought the injury made my foot ‘cold’ and that is what made my foot become big.” • Lack of Trust in Doctors: • “When you go to the hungan’s house, your foot gets even bigger.” • Severity: • “I ask for death because it makes me very sick. I have been suffering with this for 35 years.”

  11. Diagnosis • Until recently, very difficult to diagnose • Nocturnal periodicity: The worms can only be detected in the blood of those infected around the hour of midnight. • New specific card test: Detects parasites using only finger prick blood tests any time of day. • Ultrasound can identify rapidly moving adult worms.

  12. Treatment and Management of Elephantiasis • Prevention • Mosquito nets, insect repellents • Voodoo healing techniques • Elevate and exercise affected body part • Skin treatment • Wash area twice daily • Antibacterial cream • CDP (Complex decongestive physiotherapy) • Lymph drainage, massage, compressive bandages

  13. Management and Treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis • Currently Used: • Antifilarial drugs (DEC and ivermectin) are useful against larval offspring • Testing: • Doxycycline • Tested on a Tanzanian village. • Found to almost completely eliminate adult worms 14 months after treatment. • Sustained loss of larval offspring for 8-14 months after treatment. • Albendazole and DEC • Given together once a year • Found to be 99% effective in removing microfilariae from blood for full year after treatment

  14. World Epidemic • Continuing to grow throughout the global community. • Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis • Strategy: stop spread of infection, alleviate suffering of infected individuals by using albendazole and DEC • Other plans: Papua, New Guinea: utilization of church eldership

  15. Work Cited • http://www.who.int • www. Wikipedia.com • http://www.filariasis.org • http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/lymphaticfilariasis/default.htm • http://elephantiasis.freeyellow.com/ • http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/elephantiasis.jsphttp:// • http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=26197 • http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/sphtm/documents/lfreview/lfreview.pdf • http://elephantiasis.freeyellow.com/pictures.html • http://www.emedicine.com/med/images/2251elephantiasis3.jpg • http://www.liv.ac.uk/images/newsroom/press_releases/2005/06/elephantias • http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/wuchereria.html • http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/8267 • Seppa, Nathan Attack on Elephantiasis, Science News; 6/25/2005, Vol. 167 Issue 26, p404-405, 2p

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