Abstract
Filarial parasites are a major cause of human disease in the tropical areas of the world. Filariasis has been targeted by the TDR program of WHO as one of seven tropical diseases that receives special research support. The two major classes of disease caused by different species of filarial parasites are lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis. All filarial parasites require an arthropod vector, either a mosquito or blackfly, to complete their life cycle. The insects take up the microfilariae (0.2–0.3 mM in length) during a blood meal. In the insect they undergo two molts to become Las before they are transmitted back to man. In man, or an appropriate mammalian host, the parasites undergo two more molts over several months to become mature adults. Males and females then mate and produce microfilariae which can be ingested by an insect that can transmit them to other individuals.
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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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McReynolds, L.A., Poole, C.B., Williams, S.A., Partono, F. (1991). Diagnosis of Filariasis with DNA Probes. In: Vaheri, A., Tilton, R.C., Balows, A. (eds) Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology and Immunology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76603-9_49
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76603-9_49
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