TY - JOUR
T1 - Community diagnosis of bancroftian filariasis
AU - Faris, Rifky
AU - Ramzy, Reda M.R.
AU - Gad, Abdel M.
AU - Weil, Gary J.
AU - Buck, Alfred A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements Field studies were conducted with the assistance of the filariasis field research team of the Research and Training Centre on Vectors of Disease, Ain Shams University. We greatly appreciate the co-operation of personnel from the Tahoria Health Unit, Qalubia Governorate. This work was supported by a USAID-NIAID regional project entitled ‘Epidemiology and Control of Vector Borne Diseases in the Middle East’ (NOI-AI-22667), NIH grant AI-22488, and a grant for the study of urban tila-riasis (E-03-N) from USAID (administered by the office of International Health and NIAID).
PY - 1993/11
Y1 - 1993/11
N2 - The objective of this study was to find the best tests for efficiently estimating the true prevalence of Bancroftian filariasis in endemic areas. The study population comprised 427 people over 10 years of age in an endemic village in Egypt. Four tests were evaluated; a standardized clinical examination, night blood examinations for microfilariae (50 μL thick films and 1 mL membrane filtration), and a test for circulating filarial antigen. 191 subjects (44·75%) had at least one positive test and were considered to have filariasis. The sensitivities of clinical examination, thick films, membrane filtration and antigen testing for filariasis were 16%, 50%, 64%, and 88%, respectively. Relative to membrane filtration of night blood, the filarial antigen test had a sensitivity of 97·5%, a positive predictive power of 71%, and a negative predictive power of 99%. None of the blood tests was a sensitive indicator of clinical filariasis; 69% of clinical cases were negative in all 3 blood tests and would have been missed if clinical examinations had not been done. Therefore, we recommend a combination of clinical examination and the filarial antigen test (with optional examination for microfilariae of those with positive antigen tests) for community diagnosis of Bancroftian filariasis in endemic areas.
AB - The objective of this study was to find the best tests for efficiently estimating the true prevalence of Bancroftian filariasis in endemic areas. The study population comprised 427 people over 10 years of age in an endemic village in Egypt. Four tests were evaluated; a standardized clinical examination, night blood examinations for microfilariae (50 μL thick films and 1 mL membrane filtration), and a test for circulating filarial antigen. 191 subjects (44·75%) had at least one positive test and were considered to have filariasis. The sensitivities of clinical examination, thick films, membrane filtration and antigen testing for filariasis were 16%, 50%, 64%, and 88%, respectively. Relative to membrane filtration of night blood, the filarial antigen test had a sensitivity of 97·5%, a positive predictive power of 71%, and a negative predictive power of 99%. None of the blood tests was a sensitive indicator of clinical filariasis; 69% of clinical cases were negative in all 3 blood tests and would have been missed if clinical examinations had not been done. Therefore, we recommend a combination of clinical examination and the filarial antigen test (with optional examination for microfilariae of those with positive antigen tests) for community diagnosis of Bancroftian filariasis in endemic areas.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027453963&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0035-9203(93)90277-W
DO - 10.1016/0035-9203(93)90277-W
M3 - Article
C2 - 8296366
AN - SCOPUS:0027453963
SN - 0035-9203
VL - 87
SP - 659
EP - 661
JO - Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 6
ER -