Influence of seasonal variation on reported filarial attacks among people living with lymphedema in Ghana
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Date
2019
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BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) is a vector-borne neglected tropical disease caused by the filarial nematode
parasites that can lead to the disfiguring swelling of the limbs (lymphedema or elephantiasis for late stage) and/or
genitalia (hydrocele) in men. Growing evidence suggests that not only are filarial lymphedema patients confronted
with huge societal stigma and discrimination, but also experience acute filarial attacks accompanied by swelling of
the affected part(s), fever, wounds and peeling of the skin of affected limbs(s). However, the extent to which
seasonal variation influence filarial attacks among people with lymphedema was highly speculated without
empirical evidence and was thus investigated.
Methods: In light of this, a cross-sectional study where 142 (70.4% females and 29.6% males) lymphedema patients
were recruited from 8 established Wuchereria bancrofti endemic communities in the Ahanta West District, Ghana
was carried out to investigate the prevalence and seasonal variation (rainy/wet and dry seasons) of acute filarial
attacks. Chi-square test was used to test for association between frequency of attacks and seasonality. The STROBE
guidelines for reporting cross-sectional studies was adopted.
Results: The average lymphedema leg stage was 2.37 and 2.33 for left and right legs, respectively, while mossy
lesions, sores and ulcers were observed among 33.1% of patients with late stage disease (elephantiasis). It was
found that 97 (68.3%) of the study participants experience filarial attacks during the wet season and 36 (25.4%)
reported the incidence of filarial attacks during both seasons (wet and dry) while 9 (6.3%) of the study participants
did not experience any attack at all.
Conclusions: Findings from the present study show compelling evidence that the frequency and the prevalence of
filarial attacks is significantly increased during wet seasons compared to the dry season.
Description
This article is published by BioMed Central and is also available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4084-2
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Citation
Kwarteng et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2019) 19:442 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4084-2