Current status of filariasis in Indonesia.

Filariasis in Indonesia is widely distributed. Three species consisting of 5 ecologically different types have been identified infecting man. Compared to older data, infection rates are much lower, partly due to environmental change and partly as a result of control programs. Various dosage treatments have given good results. The higher dosage treatment gave severe reactions especially in brugian filariasis. Pockets of high endemicity can still be found in remote rural areas. Therefore a weekly low dosage treatment of 40 weeks through the Primary Health Care approach has been adopted. Filariasis research in Indonesia at present is concentrating on the use of biotechnological tools, especially for diagnostic and vector identification purposes, and to understand better the pathophysiology. Treatment trials with new drugs such as Ivermectin and DEC are being conducted both in man and experimental animals.

Hematological changes in subperiodic Brugia malayi infection of the leaf-monkey, Presbytis cristata.

Hematological changes were monitored in the leaf-monkey, Presbytis cristata, infected experimentally with 200 subperiodic Brugia malayi infective larvae. Prepatent periods were 54-86 days and peak microfilarial geometric mean counts (GMCs) were 1324 per ml blood. Total leukocyte and differential counts were measured at pre-infection, and then at weakly intervals before and during patency. Blood eosinophil level increased to about thrice the initial level at 3 weeks post-infection and this was maintained for the next 13 weeks before it started to rise again, increasing to more than 5 times the initial level at 20 weeks post-infection. The observed pattern of eosinophilia is probably related to the level of microfilaremia and the destruction of microfilariae in the spleen. There was no significant change in the total leukocyte counts during the period of observation.

Survival and infectivity of Brugia malayi microfilariae after cryopreservation.

Methods were studied for the cryopreservation of microfilariae of periodic Brugia malayi. RPMI-1640 tissue culture medium containing 6% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and 15% newborn calf serum was used as cryoprotectant. Samples were frozen slowly in the vapor phase of liquid nitrogen prior to emersion in liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees C). The freezing rate was -0.5 to -1.0 degrees C per minute, microfilariae remained viable for as long as, 212 and 375 days, survival rates were 94 to 98% and they were infective to Aedes togoi mosquitos. The infective larvae (L3) were obtained for 10-11 days after feeding at 28 degrees C room-temperature and the infection rate of L3 in test mosquitos was 22.4-30.6%. All DMSO should be removed from the freezing medium to restore microfilariae activity after freezing.

Filariasis and its control in Fujian, China.

Epidemiological survey of filariasis in Fujian Province, China showed that malayan filariasis, transmitted by Anopheles lesteri anthropophagus was mainly distributed in the northwest part and bancroftian filariasis with Culex quinquefasciatus as vector, in middle and south coastal regions. Both species of filariae showed typical nocturnal periodicity. Involvement of the extremities was not uncommon in malayan filariasis. In contrast, hydrocele was often present in bancroftian filariasis, in which limb impairment did not appear so frequently as in the former. Hetrazan treatment was administered to the microfilaremia cases identified during blood examination surveys, which were integrated with indoor residual spraying of insecticides in endemic areas of malayan filariasis when the vector mosquito was discovered and with mass treatment with hetrazan medicated salt in endemic areas of bancroftian filariasis. At the same time the habitation condition was improved. These factors facilitated the decrease in incidence. As a result malayan and bancroftian filariasis were proclaimed to have reached the criterion of basic elimination in 1985 and 1987 respectively. Surveillance was pursued thereafter and no signs of resurgence appeared.

Exsheathment of microfilariae of Brugia pahangi in Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Culex quinquefasciatus.

In order to determine whether the exsheathment patterns described in our previous study occurred in other microfilaria-mosquito systems, exsheathment of microfilariae of Brugia pahangi was studied in two species of mosquitoes. The results of the quantitative observation revealed that the microfilariae of Brugia pahangi tend to carry their sheaths into the haemocoel of Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Culex quinquefasciatus within 4 hr after infected blood meals. The percentage of the sheathed microfilariae in the haemocoel progressively decreased to 0% at 24 hr post-ingestion. Microfilariae remaining in the midgut of both species of mosquitoes were recorded most frequently casting off their sheaths in the midgut 2 hr post-ingestion. The percentage of microfilariae exsheathed in the midgut progressively increased to about 100% and 40% 24 hr post-ingestion in Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Culex quinquefasciatus respectively. These results confirm that exsheathment of microfilariae of Brugia pahangi occurs both in the haemocoel and in the midgut of two species of mosquitoes.

The periodicity of Brugia malayi in South Thailand.

The periodicity of Brugia malayi microfilariae were studied in the two endemic areas of the South Thailand i.e. in Pattani and Narathiwat provinces. It was found that in Pattani province the microfilariae had a markedly nocturnal periodicity character while in Narathiwat province they were of a nocturnal sub-periodic type. Moreover, the microfilariae of periodic form in Giemsa stained blood films usually had "unsheathed" appearance (71.5%), while those of sub-periodic type were mostly of "sheathed" form (93.4%).