Further research on filariasis in Fiji (A study of host-parasite relationships, with special reference to the status of the Pacific filaria Wuchereria pacifica)

Abstract

Filariasis in Melanesia is of the nocturnal periodic type and is usually clinically mild; elephantiasis is rare, and the vectors are mainly Culex fatigans and Anopheles punctulus farauti. In Polynesia the disease is primarily non-periodic; hyperfilariation is common; the clinical symptoms are strong; elephantiasis is fairly common, and the vectors are various subspp. of Aedes scutellaris. These various vectors are mutually refractory to the opposite type of Wuchereria larvae. Biologically there appear to be 2 spp. of Wuchereria, and Polynesian type is properly designated as W. pacifica. In all areas the severity of human infection seems to be due to the numbers of adult filariae present, and not to the number of microfilariae or the presence or absence of periodicity of any type. Buckley indicates the presence of small, but possibly specific morph. differences between the adult females of Wuchereria collected in New Guinea and Fiji and partially substantiates the belief that the 2 forms are separate specific entities.