Lymphatic filariasis is a public health problem in Mali. The existing data are not up to date and most of them are more than 15 years old. To address this issue in April 2000, the investigators started studies to update the epidemiology of lymphatic filariasis. As a result, in two rural areas (Banambani and Sirakoro) located at about 25 km North-East Bamako, the parasite prevalence using ICT cards in August 2000 were 16% (n=150) and 15.0% (n=113) respectively in Banambani and Sirakoro. There is no ongoing lymphatic filariasis control program in 2000 in Mali in terms of preventive chemotherapy treatment or vector control.~To fill these gaps, this current study aims to assess the impact of albendazole-ivermectin combination treatment on Wuchereria bancrofti infection and transmission in 6 rural highly endemic villages of Mali.~The study will be conducted in three phases: the pre treatment assessment of lymphatic filariasis infection and transmission parameters, treatment phase with annual single dose of albendazole and ivermectin and the post treatment assessment of Anopheles gambiae s.l mosquitoes, the transmission parameters of the vectors in the community, human infection prevalence post treatment using Giemsa -stained thick smears and others test like the Immuno chromatographic test (ICT).
Lymphatic filariasis is a public health problem in Mali. The existing data are not up to date and most of them are more than 15 years old. To address this issue in April 2000, the investigators started studies to update the epidemiology of lymphatic filariasis. There is no ongoing lymphatic filariasis control program in 2000 in Mali in terms of preventive chemotherapy treatment or vector control.~To fill these gaps, this current study aims to assess the impact of albendazole-ivermectin combination treatment on Wuchereria bancrofti infection and transmission in 6 rural highly endemic villages of Mali.