ABSTRACT
Reported are results for 23 Haitian patients with capillary Wuchereria bancrofti microfilaremias greater than 30 mf/20 cmm blood. In capillary blood, the number of microfilariae was 0.9 to 7.8 times greater than expected when compared with that in venous blood. When the values for venous blood and capillary blood from these high count patients were plotted, the simple linear regression y = a + bx (r2 = .36) and the exponential function y = aebx (r2 = .34) both represented the relationship. However, when values for high and low count patients were plotted, the power function y = axb (r2 = 0.82) best described the relationship between the number of microfilariae in venous and capillary blood.
Subject(s)
Capillaries/parasitology , Elephantiasis, Filarial/epidemiology , Filariasis/epidemiology , Wuchereria bancrofti/isolation & purification , Wuchereria/isolation & purification , Animals , Haiti/epidemiology , HumansABSTRACT
Sixty-nine of 83 (83%) patients with circulating microfilariae of nocturnally periodic Wuchereria bancrofti were detected in daytime blood films following the one-time administration of diethylcarbamazine at a dose per patient of 1 +/- .25 mg/kg of body weight. This method of detecting microfilaria carriers in Haiti is recommended as a reasonably sensitive alternative when circumstances make it impossible to conduct a nighttime blood survey.