Lymphatic Filariasis: Insightful Review of a Neglected Tropical Disease

Abstract

Lymphatic filariasis (LF), a neglected tropical disease has currently infected at least 51 million individuals globally, disfigured and incapacitated about 36 million and placed over 882 million people at risk of infection. It is a painful and profoundly disfiguring disease that can lead to permanent disability. Victims of the disease do not only manifest physical disability, but suffer psychological, social and financial losses leading to stigmatisation and poverty. Regardless of the fact that LF has burdened the majority of individuals in endemic regions for many years, evidence shows that the disease has been poorly understood and its medical importance underestimated. For the past two decades or so, since the launching of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) by World Health Organization (WHO), there has been an avalanche of research works on the disease. This paper aims to provide a systematic and insightful review of the disease. The paper therefore provides a comprehensive outline of the global burden and distribution of LF, causative agents of human filariasis, life cycle of the parasite, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and control of LF.