"Prevalence of Lymphatic Filariasis in North and South Zones of Bangladesh"

Abstract

The present study was carried out mainly in the two extremely poor prone zones like north and south zones of the country consisting of 20 districts, among those, three districts like Gaibandha, Sylhet, Mymensingh are non-endemic areas of filariasis. Out of 20 studied districts, Bagerhat, Gopalganj, Sylhet, Narail, Mymensingh and Norshindhi have no patients of filariasis. 89.81% patients were found in endemic area (17 districts) and 10.18% patients were found in non-endemic area (3 districts). The highest frequency of patients was found in Lalmonirhat and Thakurgaon followed by Gaibandha. In the present study, 69.2% patients were found in the north zone and 30.8% patients in south zone. There were no patients in the age group (0-10), the highest number of patients was found in the age group (41-50) and gradually it is decreasing with the age. 90.5% of patients were suffering from leg swelling followed by hand swelling (7.6%). About 0.7% and 1.2% of patients were suffering from breast and scrotum swelling respectively.