Effect of Lymphatic Filariasis and Hookworm Infection on Pregnancy Course and Outcome in Women Living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Little is known about the effect of helminth infections on the natural gynecological and pregnancy course. Our goal was to assess the relationship between Wuchereria bancrofti and hookworm (HW) infections with pregnancy course and outcome in a group of 82 women living in a rural area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Demographics and information on gynecological and obstetrical histories were collected retrospectively with standardized questionnaires.

Risk factors for lymphatic filariasis in two villages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Background: Little is known regarding risk factors for lymphatic filariasis (LF) in Central Africa. To expand on what is known, we studied the epidemiology of LF in two endemic villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Methods: Dependent variables were Wuchereria bancrofti antigenaemia detected with filarial test strips (FTS) and microfilaraemia detected by night blood smears.

A multi-center field study of two point-of-care tests for circulating Wuchereria bancrofti antigenemia in Africa.

Background: The Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis uses point-of-care tests for circulating filarial antigenemia (CFA) to map endemic areas and for monitoring and evaluating the success of mass drug administration (MDA) programs. We compared the performance of the reference BinaxNOW Filariasis card test (ICT, introduced in 1997) with the Alere Filariasis Test Strip (FTS, introduced in 2013) in 5 endemic study sites in Africa.

Methodology: The tests were compared prior to MDA in two study sites (Congo and Côte d'Ivoire) and in three sites that had received MDA (DRC and 2 sites in Liberia).

Measurement of Circulating Filarial Antigen Levels in Human Blood with a Point-of-Care Test Strip and a Portable Spectrodensitometer.

The Alere Filariasis Test Strip (FTS) is a qualitative, point-of-care diagnostic tool that detects Wuchereria bancrofti circulating filarial antigen (CFA) in human blood, serum, or plasma. The Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis employs the FTS for mapping filariasis-endemic areas and assessing the success of elimination efforts. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between the intensity of positive test lines obtained by FTS with CFA levels as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with blood and plasma samples from 188 individuals who live in a filariasis-endemic area.