ONCHOCERCIASIS, A POSSIBLE ETIOLOGY OF ELEPHANTIASIS IN SOUTH-WEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract

A comparative study on dermal tissue and enlarged inguinal lymph nodes from subjects infected with O. volvulus is presented and the histo-pathological findings are discussed. The present data indicate that there could be causal relationship between onchocerciasis and elephantiasis in South-west Ethiopia, endemic focus of the onchocercal disease. The authors drew particular attention to the non-filarial etiology reported by other investigators in Ethiopia and assessed the two contradicting views known as the nonfilarial and filarial etiology of elephantiasis.