see also:

• parasites
• travel medicine
• elephantiasis
• wikipedia

• filariasis are infectious tropical conditions caused by microfilariae (thread-like nematode parasites) belonging to the superfamily Filarioidea, which are spread by blood feeding arthropods such as black flies and mosquitoes.

• caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori.
• chronic cases may lead to the disease elephantiasis

• caused by loa loa (the African eye worm), Mansonella streptocerca, and Onchocerca volvulus (onchocerciasis / river blindness)
• worms occupy the subcutaneous layer of the skin, in the fat layer.

• caused by the worms Mansonella perstans and Mansonella ozzardi, which occupy the serous cavity of the abdomen

• Filariasis is usually diagnosed by identifying microfilariae on Giemsa stained thin and thick blood film smears, using the “gold standard” known as the finger prick test.
• blood must be drawn at the appropriate time of day - night time for Wuchereria bancrofti, day time for Loa Loa
• M. streptocerca and O. volvulus produce microfilarae that do not use the blood, so skin samples are required