Filariasis describes a group of parasitic diseases caused by roundworms. These cause a lot of hardship to around 120 million people in the tropics and subtropics. The pharmaceutical industry's response has been the development of effective medicines and involvement in eradication programmes.
Disease: Filariasis
Last update: May 2005
Intro
FAQ
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What is it?
Filariasis is a group of diseases caused by roundworms. They can be divided into two groups: lymphatic filariasis, which infects the lymphatic system; and cutaneous filariasis, which primarily infects the skin. The worm larvae undergo several developmental stages and are spread by mosquitoes.
Symptoms of lymphatic filariasis include fever, inflammation of the lymph nodes and testes, and swelling.
River blindness, a form of cutaneous filariasis, manifests with skin infections, swelling, altered pigmentation and damage to various parts of the eye.
Though rarely fatal, these diseases cause significant personal and socioeconomic hardship. -
Who gets it?
filariasis and over a billion more are at risk of infection. There are at least 21 million people suffering from river blindness in West and Central Africa and Central and South America.
Individuals of any age, race or sex are susceptible to infection if they have had years of repeated exposure to infected insects. -
What can be done about it?
If recognised and treated early the prognosis for many forms of filariasis is good. Patients are treated with medications (called anthelmintics) to kill the adult worms and may also be given treatments to combat any associated itching, swelling, pain or infections.
The research-based pharmaceutical industry is currently involved in a number of eradication programmes in countries where filariasis is endemic, one of which has spared around 9 million children from the risk of river blindness. -
What does the future hold?
Research continues into the development of new, more effective anthelmintics and other novel compounds to treat specific species of worms.
A large-scale elimination programme, the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF) aims to eliminate the disease entirely by 2020, by treating whole communities once yearly for five consecutive years.