n. a genus of threadlike parasitic worms (see filaria). B. malayi infects humans throughout southeast Asia, causing *filariasis and *elephantiasis (especially of the feet and legs). B. pahangi, a parasite of wild cats and domestic animals, produces an allergic condition in humans, with coughing, breathing difficulty, and an increase in the number of *eosinophils in the blood. Brugia undergoes part of its development in mosquitoes of the genera Anopheles and Mansonia, which transmit the parasite from host to host.
Marked swelling and inflammation of the lymphatics, associated with hypertrophy and thickening of the overlying skins and subcutaneous tissues, usually in the lower limbs and external genitalia. While not exclusive to filariasis, it is seen often in chronic filariasis due to Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi. The affected areas often taken on a woody character and can be extensive. See also filariasis.... elephantiasis
A syndro me found in certain tropical areas in which patients present with hypereosinophilia, pulmonary infiltration, cough, chest pain and asthma-like attacks. Associated with infection by the filarial nematodes Wuchereriabancrofti and Brugia malayi. These infections are usually amicrofilaraemic, , especially in expatriates, i.e. no microfilariae can be detected in peripheral blood.... tropical eosinophilia
n. (pl. filariae) any of the long threadlike nematode worms that, as adults, are parasites of human connective and lymphatic tissues capable of causing disease. They include the genera *Brugia, *Loa, *Onchocerca, and *Wuchereria. Filariae differ from the intestinal nematodes (see hookworm) in that they undergo part of their development in the body of a bloodsucking insect, e.g. a mosquito, on which they subsequently depend for their transmission to another human host. See also microfilaria. —filarial adj.... filaria
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