Lymphatic filariasis in a rural community in Nigeria: a challenge ahead

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) represents a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Following the admission of a 65 year old man from Sowo village Abeokuta Ogun State with a case of LF at the Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta, a cross-sectional based survey was carried out to determine the occurrence and prevalence of LF in this village. Identification of the LF parasite was carried out with blood stained with Giemsa and examined under low power magnification for the presence of sheathed microfilaria. Out of 317 persons examined 54 (17%) were microfilaraemic and their ages varied from 10 to 70 years. The age group 40-49 has the highest prevalence of 36.5% and highest mean microfilaria count of 4.8mf/mL. In the age group 20-29, females (12.8%) were more infected than males (9.3%) and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.0042). In all more males (17.8%) were affected than females (16.9%) (P=0.9481) and the mean MF count in males (22.8mf/ML) was higher than females (21.7mf/ML). The prevalent rate of elephantiasis and hydrecoele observed in the community was 2.2% respectively. The result of this study confirms and observed a high prevalence rate of LF in this community. This finding establishes the need for Ministry of Health (MOH) and Global Alliance to Eliminate LF (GAELF) to carry out disease control activities through Annual Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in this community.