Lymphatic filariasis is a parasitic disease caused by microscopic, thread-like worms called Wuchereria bancrofti and is a leading cause of permanent and long-term disability worldwide. Filariasis spreads from person to person by mosquito bites. If a mosquito bites a person who has lymphatic filariasis, the microscopic worms circulating in the infected person's blood can enter and infect the mosquito. Once the mosquito is infected, anyone who is subsequently bitten by that mosquito can be infected with the worms. The worms travel to the lymph vessels where they grow into adults. An adult worm can live for about 7 years. The adult worms mate and release millions of microscopic worms into the blood. Lymphatic filariasis affects over 120 million people in 80 countries throughout the tropics and sub-tropics of Asia, Africa, the Western Pacific, and parts of the Caribbean and South America, and can lead to elephantitis.¹


For more information about filariasis, please follow the links indicated below:

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• CDC Travelers' Health Information on Filariasis
  
  
• UNICEF - UNDP - World Bank - WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases: Lymphatic filariasis
  
  
• The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis
  
  
• filariasis.net - Lymphatic Filariasis Knowledge Base.
  

¹http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/lymphaticfilariasis/factsht_lymphatic_filar.htm