Filariasis in British Guiana. A comparative study of Filaria bancrofti and Filaria ozzardi infections

Abstract

A method of data collection and the incidence findings based on this collection are reported. The author studied the occurrence of 2 parasitic infections Filaria bancrofti (Wucherenia bancrofti) and Filaria ozzardi (Mansonella ozzardi) among the population of Guyana when that country was a British colony. The occurrence of these 2 types of parasitic infections was compared and numerous variables were correlated to illuminate the nature of these infections. Infection by F. bancrofti was strictly limited to the population in the coastal regions and river estuaries and the percentage of infection varies according to race: Negroes 40%; East Indians 20%; Chinese rarely affected; and aboriginal Indians and North Europeans no occurrence. Since a person may be heavily populated with filarial organisms and show no symptoms whereas others will manifest the disease syndrome called filariasis the author attempted to elucidate the circumstances governing the nonappearance or otherwise of filarial lesions. It is argued that the initial pathological manifestation exclusively found in F. Bancrofti infections is the varicolymphocele of the spermatic cord in males and of the utero-ovarian lexus in females. This is the main and often only clinical manifestation of filariasis during the hosts lifetime. The theory that so long as the parasites remain confined to genital tissue and escape only through lymphatics which will lead the parasites to sites of destruction within the hosts body few overt symptoms of filarial disease will manifest is discussed and data from 7000 cases including 1000 laparotomies are presented for substantiation.