NIH-Funded Scientists Solve Genetic Code of Parasitic Worm that
Causes Elephantiasis More than 150 million people worldwide are
infected with filarial parasites — long, thread-like worms that
can live for years inside the human body and cause severe,
debilitating diseases such as elephantiasis. Mosquitoes spread
the larvae of these parasitic nematodes from human to human,
placing at risk more than a billion people who live in places in
Africa, Asia and Latin America where filarial parasites thrive.
Now, a team of researchers funded by the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), has revealed the genetic secrets of
one of these parasites. In the September 21, 2007 issue of
Science, the researchers report solving the complete genome of
Brugia malayi, one of the worms that causes the often
debilitating disease elephantiasis. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 40 million people
around the world are seriously incapacita