A study of the microfilarial periodicity at Bireuen, the type locality of Brugia malayi.

A field study was conducted in August 1974 at Bireuen, Indonesia, at the type locality of Brugia malayi from where the parasite was first described by Lichtenstein (1927) and Brug (1927), in order to determine the pattern of the microfilarial periodicity. From the results, it has been demonstrated that both the microfilariae of B. malayi as well as those of W. bancrofti in man from Bireuen area are the nocturnally periodic form. The microfilaria rates observed in the present survey were much lower than those recorded by Lichtenstein (1927) some 50 years ago in the same areas.