FILARIASIS AND ELEPHANTIASIS IN SOUTHERN LUZON. 1 



By James M. Phalen and Henry J. Nichols. 1 



I. Introductory and Historical. 

 II. Elephantiasis. 



III. Filaeiasis. 



IV. The Parasite. 

 V. Mosquitoes. 



VI. Relationship of Filaria to Elephantiasis. 

 VII. Treatment and Prophylaxis. 

 VIII. Summary and Conclusion. 



i. introductory and historical. 



It has been well known for years that filarial disease exists in the 

 Philippine Islands, and the occurrence of its sequela;, elephantiasis in -its 

 various phases also has been noted occasionally; but at the present time 

 little is known concerning the frequency and distribution of these 

 important maladies. A circular issued in 1901 from the office of the 

 chief surgeon, Philippines Division, makes the first mention of filariasis 

 in the Philippine Islands, as far as we are able to discover. This 

 circular notes the discovery by Strong of a microfilaria in the blood of a 

 European resident of Iloilo, the parasite being designated the Filaria 

 nocturna. 



Calvert, in 1902, performed an autopsy upon the body of a Filipino 

 plague victim, and found groups of lymphatic varices in the pelvis and 

 later an adult filaria in sections of the iliac lymphatics. This led him 

 to examine the blood of a number of Filipino prisoners of war, with 

 the result that he found two filarial -infections out of four hundred and 

 twenty-six persons examined. It is interesting to note that these two 

 infections were in natives of the Province of Albay. The species of 

 filarial embryo found was not given, but it had a nocturnal periodicity. 



Doctors W. B. Wherry and J. E. McDill in May, 1906, 2 reported a 



1 James M. Phalen, captain, Medical Corps, United States Army, and Henry 

 J. Nichols, first lieutenant, Medical Corps, United States Army, constituting the 

 United States Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases as they occur in 

 the Philippine Islands. 



= Publications of the Bureau of Government Laboratories, Manila, Biological 

 Laboratory (1905), 31. 



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