Host Response to Infection and Treatment in Lymphatic Filarial Disease in India

Lymphatic Filarial Disease

Filarial Parasites, Wuchereria Bancrofti, Brugia Malayi, Diethylcarbamazine (DEC), Ivermectin

Patients admitted on this protocol will have, or be suspected of having, one of the lymphatic filarial infections affecting humans. After routine clinical evaluation they will be studied in depth immunologically, and their blood cells and/or serum will be collected to provide reagents (eg., specific antibodies, T cell clones, etc.) that will be used in the laboratory to address the broader questions of immunodiagnosis, immunoregulation, immunopathology and immunoprophylaxis. Careful observations of the patients' clinical and immunologic responses to therapy will be made, as well as long-term follow-up of these changes. It is anticipated both that the patients will receive optimal clinical care for their infections and that the specimens collected from them will prove to be valuable reagents for the laboratory studies of the immunologic responses unique to filarial or other helminthic infections.

This study is designed to determine the presence of and the immune response to filarial and stronglyloides infections in an area endemic for both infections in South India. This study will aim to examine the presence of filarial and Strongyloides stercoralis infection at a community level as well as in hospital settings. After routine clinical evaluation and screening, individuals enrolled in this protocol will be studied in depth immunologically, and their blood cells and/or serum will be collected to address the broader questions of immunodiagnosis, immunoregulation and immunopathology. Careful observations of the individual s clinical and immunologic responses to therapy will be made, as well as long-term follow-up of these changes. In addition to infected individuals, this protocol will also be used to study individuals with filarial pathology and endemic normal individuals. This will enable us to characterize the immunological profiles of infected, uninfected and diseased individuals in an endemic area and provide greater insight into the pathogenesis of lymphatic filarial disease as well as the immunology of strongyloides infection.

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