Assessment of intradermal test in longitudinal surveillance of bancroftian filariasis

Longitudinal surveillance was carried out consecutively during 1982-1987 in two pilot villages where bancroftian filariasis was prevalent in different severity before 1982. Intradermal test (IT) with filaria polypeptide (FPT) antigen prepared from Dirofilaria immitis was made. It was shown that the level of immediate hypersensitivity reaction to the antigen in population as shown by IT appeared to be directly proportional to both the prevalence of the disease and the infection rate of mosquitoes harbouring larval filariae before mass and selective treatment with diethylcarbamazine. Time for negative conversion of IT after chemotherapy was significantly longer in previous microfilaraemic patients than that in amicrofilaraemic cases. The selected three criteria of IT used in filariasis surveillance, namely, the positive rate, frequency of strong reaction and positive conversion rate, were diminished gradually after chemotherapy year by year, so that the three criteria were demonstrated to be useful for longitudinal surveillance of lymphatic filariasis.