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Onchocerciasis in the Sierra Parima and Upper Orinoco Regions, Federal Territory of Amazonas, Venezuela *
Published in Max J. Miller, E. J. Love, Parasitic Diseases: Treatment and Control, 2020
Samples of blood from 185 persons (23 from Parima A and 162 from Parima B) were examined for the presence of microfilariae. The average age of the population was 25 years, ranging from 2 to 69 years of age. The sex ratio was 70 females to 115 males. Microfilariae of O. volvulus were identified in 12.3% of the samples (Table 6), with no significant difference being evident between the sexes. The percentage of microfilaremia in Parima B showed a positive correlation with increasing age (r = 1.00). In addition, microfilariae of Mansonella ozzardi were found in five (2.7) of the samples and a mixed infection with M. ozzardi and O. volvulus in one individual (0.5%).
Mosquitoes
Published in Gail Miriam Moraru, Jerome Goddard, The Goddard Guide to Arthropods of Medical Importance, Seventh Edition, 2019
Gail Miriam Moraru, Jerome Goddard
Numerous filarial worms are transmitted to humans and other mammals by mosquitoes, deer flies, and black flies. Examples include the causative agents of Bancroftian and Malayan filariasis (discussed earlier), loiasis, onchocerciasis, and dirofilariasis (dog heartworm). Other filarial worms may or may not cause symptomatic disease and are less well known (and thus have no common name), such as Mansonella ozzardi, M. streptocerca, M. perstans, Dirofilaria tenuis, D. ursi, D. repens, and others. Beaver and Orihel44 reported 39 such cases that were caused by Dirofilaria immitis (dog heartworm), other Dirofilaria spp., Dipetalonema spp., and Brugia spp. Recently, there seems to be an increase in cases of human subcutaneous dirofilariasis (HSD), and some researchers think this is an emerging disease. One paper reported a cluster of 14 cases of HSD in humans in Russia from February 2003 through July 2004, the highest number of cases of HSD diagnosed worldwide in such a short period.45
Filariasis
Published in F. Y. Liew, Vaccination Strategies of Tropical Diseases, 2017
Juliet A. Fuhrman, Willy F. Piessens
Filarial nematodes are obligate extracellular parasites of virtually all vertebrate species. Fortunately, most of these helminths are able to fully develop in only one or at most a small number of different hosts; this narrow host specificity limits the number of filarial species that are of major medical or veterinary importance. Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and B. timori are the main causes of human lymphatic filariasis, an often debilitating infection that threathens the well-being of perhaps 300 million people living in tropical and subtropical areas around the world.1Onchocerca volvulus is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, particularly in subsaharan Africa where “River Blindness” constitutes a major obstacle to economic development.2 Four other filarial species, Loa loa, Dipetalonema perstans, D. streptocerca, and Mansonella ozzardi, cause relatively benign infections in some parts of Africa and/or Central and South America.3 Filarial infections are also widespread among domestic animals. Several species of Onchocerca infect cattle and horses on all continents. Dirofilaria immitis is rare in Africa, but is a common parasite of dogs in warm climates elsewhere. B. pahangi infects cats throughout Southeast Asia. Setaria digitata is widespread among cattle, buffaloes and zebu in the Far East and northern Japan.4–6
Overcoming challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of parasitic infectious diseases in migrants
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2020
Francesca F. Norman, Belen Comeche, Sandra Chamorro, Rogelio López-Vélez
The filariases are a group of diseases caused by several species of nematodes which are spread by blood-feeding diptera such as mosquitoes, tabanids, and black flies. They are divided into three main groups: Lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori; Subcutaneous filariasis, caused by Loa loa (Calabar swellings, eye-worm), and Onchocerca volvulus (river blindness); and Serous cavity filariasis, caused by Mansonella perstans and Mansonella ozzardi, and rarely Dirofilaria immitis (dog heartworm).