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A Survey of Filariasis among Refugees in South Florida^*

Bienvenido G. Yangco, Albert L. Vincent, Ann C. Vickery, Jai K. Nayar AND Donald M. Sauerman

Division of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine, 12901 North 30th Street, Box 19, Tampa, Florida 33612
Department of Comprehensive Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine, 13301 North 30th Street, MHC 6-215, Tampa, Florida 33612
IFAS, University of Florida, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, 200 9th Street, S.E., Vero Beach, Florida 32960

Between January 1981 and March 1982, a filariasis survey was conducted among 668 Haitian immigrants and 155 Southeast Asian refugees residing in Florida, U.S.A. Microfilariae were detected only in Haitians, with 6.7% positive for Wuchereria bancrofti and 1.3% positive for Mansonella ozzardi. The majority of individuals with bancroftian filariasis came from five coastal urban areas including Port-au-Prince, Duvalierville, Gonaïves, Leógane and Cap-Haitien. No unequivocal signs of bancroftian filariasis or mansonellosis were seen. Membrane feeding of several species and strains of laboratory-reared mosquitoes on blood from a volunteer microfilaremic with W. bancrofti showed that Aedes aegypti and A. taeniorhynchus, but not Culex quinquefasciatus, were susceptible to infection with the Haitian strain of W. bancrofti. Culicoides furens, a known vector of M. ozzardi in Haiti and present in Florida, was not tested. Further studies are needed to determine the competence of Florida vectors for transmitting W. bancrofti and M. ozzardi to the indigenous human population.

Accepted for publication August 22, 1983.

^* Supported in part by the Biomedical Research Grant 5 S07 RR05749 awarded by the Biomedical Research Grant Program, Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. Part of this information was presented at the 21st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 4–6 November 1981, in Chicago.