Epidemiological Mapping Of Lymphatic Filariasis In Southern Nigeria Preliminary Survey Of Akinyele Local Government Area

Abstract

Lymphatic filariasis caused by Wuchereria bancrofti is major public health problem in tropical and subtropical countries including Nigeria. The real burden of the disease in most endemic regions remains unknown. The nocturnal periodicity of the parasites requires parasitological examination to be done at night and this is quite cumbersome. The World Health Organization recently recommended two rapid methods for the assessment of lymphatic filariasis (RAGFIL). These RAGFILS methods i.e. using community health workers and key informants were used to rapidly map lymphatic filariasis in Akinyele Local Government area of Oyo State Nigeria. The prevalence of hydrocele and elephantiasis was highly sensitive in identifying this community as endemic for filariasis. The degree of association between finding by health workers and information obtained form the community key informants was high for the two major clinical manifestation of the disease used. Community key informants and health workers did provide useful information on the prevalence of clinical filariasis. These observations suggest that the mean number of cases obtained in the village through key informants and the examination of health workers for the clinical signs of the disease may be considered at an initial level to identify endemic areas. The need to extend this method to rapidly map lymphatic filariasis in Nigeria is discussed. Key words: Lymphatic, Filariasis, Rapid, Mapping, Assessment and Health workers. Afr. J. Clin. Exper. Microbiol. 2004; 5 (3): 231-234