Global program to eliminate elephantiasis has early success in Egypt
Organizers of a 20-year global effort to eliminate a parasitic infection that is a leading cause of disability have an early victory to savor: a five-year Egyptian elimination campaign has mostly succeeded, according to a new report in the March 25 issue of The Lancet. Infection with the parasites, threadlike filarial worms, can lead to the dramatic, disfiguring swelling known as elephantiasis......Five rounds of yearly mass drug administration are likely to have eliminated the parasites that cause elephantiasis in most areas of Egypt, according to a study in this week's issue of The Lancet....... Elephantiasis, or lymphatic filariasis, is a disfiguring and disabling tropical disease caused by infection with parasitic worms. Egypt is one of the first countries to implement a national progra...