Siphamandla Qhubekani Lamula, Elizabeth Bosede Aladejana, Emmanuel Adebowale Aladejana, Lisa Valencia Buwa-Komoreng
{"title":"Prevalence of elephantiasis, an overlooked disease in Southern Africa: a comprehensive review.","authors":"Siphamandla Qhubekani Lamula, Elizabeth Bosede Aladejana, Emmanuel Adebowale Aladejana, Lisa Valencia Buwa-Komoreng","doi":"10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2024-0007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Elephantiasis, also known as lymphatic filariasis (LF), is a debilitating condition characterized by the thickening of the skin and muscles, primarily affecting the limbs, genitalia, and female breasts. Lymphatic filariasis is a major global health concern, affecting approximately 120 million people worldwide and having a significant impact on people's quality of life, mobility, and socio-economic status. Although LF is endemic in many parts of the world, including Africa, it is a neglected issue in Southern Africa, with little information available. According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 882.5 million people in 44 countries worldwide are at risk of contracting LF, making it the second most common vector-borne disease after malaria. The primary goal of this review was to assess the prevalence of elephantiasis in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Lymphatic filariasis is endemic in four of the sixteen SADC countries, three countries have administered MDA to the population that required it and they are now under post-intervention surveillance, while LF is no longer a public health problem in Malawi. Global efforts to eliminate LF have been hampered by the non-availability of MDA in some SADC countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Despite the implementation of mass drug administration programs, a review of the literature reveals gaps in knowledge about LF prevalence cases in SADC countries. Each country faces unique challenges and successes in combating LF due to varying levels of available data and healthcare infrastructure. Some SADC countries continue to bear the burden of LF-related diseases, necessitating ongoing disease prevention and elimination efforts. This review emphasizes the importance of ongoing research, data collection, and novel policies to combat the spread of elephantiasis disease in the SADC region and beyond.</p>","PeriodicalId":17565,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11477232/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9199-JVATITD-2024-0007","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"TOXICOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Elephantiasis, also known as lymphatic filariasis (LF), is a debilitating condition characterized by the thickening of the skin and muscles, primarily affecting the limbs, genitalia, and female breasts. Lymphatic filariasis is a major global health concern, affecting approximately 120 million people worldwide and having a significant impact on people's quality of life, mobility, and socio-economic status. Although LF is endemic in many parts of the world, including Africa, it is a neglected issue in Southern Africa, with little information available. According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 882.5 million people in 44 countries worldwide are at risk of contracting LF, making it the second most common vector-borne disease after malaria. The primary goal of this review was to assess the prevalence of elephantiasis in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Lymphatic filariasis is endemic in four of the sixteen SADC countries, three countries have administered MDA to the population that required it and they are now under post-intervention surveillance, while LF is no longer a public health problem in Malawi. Global efforts to eliminate LF have been hampered by the non-availability of MDA in some SADC countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Despite the implementation of mass drug administration programs, a review of the literature reveals gaps in knowledge about LF prevalence cases in SADC countries. Each country faces unique challenges and successes in combating LF due to varying levels of available data and healthcare infrastructure. Some SADC countries continue to bear the burden of LF-related diseases, necessitating ongoing disease prevention and elimination efforts. This review emphasizes the importance of ongoing research, data collection, and novel policies to combat the spread of elephantiasis disease in the SADC region and beyond.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases (JVATiTD) is a non-commercial academic open access publication dedicated to research on all aspects of toxinology, venomous animals and tropical diseases. Its interdisciplinary content includes original scientific articles covering research on toxins derived from animals, plants and microorganisms. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:systematics and morphology of venomous animals;physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and immunology of toxins;epidemiology, clinical aspects and treatment of envenoming by different animals, plants and microorganisms;development and evaluation of antivenoms and toxin-derivative products;epidemiology, clinical aspects and treatment of tropical diseases (caused by virus, bacteria, algae, fungi and parasites) including the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) defined by the World Health Organization.