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Sherris Medical Microbiology, 7e
Chapter 55: Tissue Nematodes
OTHER FILARIAL WORMS
Other microfilarial parasites have been detected in humans, including species of Mansonella. These are transmitted to people during the bite of the
Culicoides midge. For generations, these worms were felt to be harmless to patients, and their importance in parasitology was limited to distinguishing
them from “pathogenic” microfilariae found in the blood. However, this opinion may be changing. It is now believed that M perstans may cause a wide
variety of problems, including fever, fatigue, headache, arthralgias, CNS disturbances, and occasionally migration across the eye, as seen in loiasis.
Like most other microfilarial infections, their adults contain endosymbiotic Wolbachia, and treatment with doxycycline may accelerate clearance of the
adult parasites; whether this will lead to widespread clinical benefit is unclear.
Other microfilariae of unclear significance
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OTHER FILARIAL WORMS,
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