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Hyperendemic Bancroftian Filariasis in the Kingdom of Tonga: The Application of the Membrane Filter Concentration Technique to an Age-Stratified Blood Survey^*

A survey carried out in Tonga, an area of hyperendemic subperiodic Wuchereria bancrofti filariasis, compared the diagnostic efficiency of the membrane-filtration and stained blood film techniques. Membrane filter concentration of 1 ml blood revealed a microfilaria rate that was approximately the same for all age groups, from 5 to 9 years old to > 50 years old, about 70%. The microfilaria rate by examination of stained 60 mm³ thick blood films was lower for all age groups. Membrane filter concentration detected 7.8 times as many infections as thick film diagnosis in the 5- to 9-year-old group, 4.8 times in the 10- to 14-year-old group, 2.4 times in the 15- to 20- and 21- to 50-year-old groups, and 1.6 times in the >50-year-old group. Concentration revealed the presence of microfilariae in the blood of 5 of 8 patients with gross elephantiasis, whereas microfilariae were found in the stained thick-film of only 1 of these individuals.

Accepted for publication March 8, 1974.

^* This study was carried out during the tenure by one of the authors (R. S. D.) of a consultancy under the World Health Organization Program of Investigations on Filariasis.

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