Elephantiasis Disease

Today let's talk about one of the most strange diseases: Elephantiasis. 

This disease is also known as "Lymphatic filariasis".

People who suffer from this disease generally seen grossly enlarged or swollen their arms and legs. The disease is caused by parasitic worms, including Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and B. timori, all transmitted by mosquitoes. 

Elephantiasis currently affects more then 120 million people all over the world.

The process happens like this: an infected female mosquito bites a person and she may inject the worm larvae (called microfilariae) into the blood. Then, the microfilariae reproduce and spread throughout the bloodstream, where they can live for many years. 

The symptoms from this disease do not appear until years after infection but when it finnaly does, the parasites accumulate in the blood vessels, cause restrict circulation and  fluid to build up in surrounding tissues. 

Symptoms:

-  Excessively enlarged of: Arms, Legs, Genitalia, and Breasts.

Treatment:

- Chemotherapy (to attack the adult worms as well as symptomatic treatment to repair damage caused by the body's reaction to the presence of dead worms);

- Drugs as Suramin (Antrypol ), Diethylcarbamazine (DEC, Heterazan, Banocide, and Notezine ), Ivermectin (Mectizan), Metrifonate (Trichlorphon), Mebendazole and Levamisole;

- Sugery; 

Affected Areas:

- Africa