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Risk factors/ Location
West & Central Africa are the main areas affected.
About 3-13 million people are infected.
The east-west geographical distribution of the disease extends from southeastern Benin to southern Sudan and Uganda. The north-south geographical distribution extends from about 10°N to Angola.
They breed in the high-canopied rain forest.
Signs and Symptoms
Bite most commonly during the day and during rainy the season.
- May take up to 1 1/2 decades to occur
- Serious complications can occur depending on where the adult worm travels withing the body.
Travelers to at-risk areas who stay for long periods of time are more likely to become infected than short-term travelers, though a few cases have been documented in persons who were in at-risk areas for less than one month.
A traveler's risk for infection likely will depend on
the number of bites received and the number of
infected deer flies in the area visited.
- Localized swelling
- Red skin
- Itchy skin
- Lymphedema
)
Lymphedema: Swelling of a region due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels.
(Can lead to cancer.)
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Treatment
Diagnosis/Treatment/Prevention
Diagnosis can be difficult in patients with
low levels of larvae in the blood. The diagnostic
work-up is usually begun after someone develops eye
worm, Calabar swellings, or unexplained elevated
levels of eosinophils on blood tests after travel to an affected area.
..only relieves local symptoms and does not cure the patient of the underlying infection.
The most straightforward treatment is surgical removal of adult worms migrating under the skin or across the eye.
There are no vaccines available to prevent becoming infected.
Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) 300mg taken once a week is effective at preventing loiasis in long-term travelers to affected areas.
Prevention
What is it?
Loiasis is a parasitic worm, also known as "Loa Loa". It is transmitted through repeated bites of a horsefly, deer fly, or the Mango fly.
The worm larvae enters the blood stream through the bite of an infected fly and usually affects the skin and eyes.
When the larvae become an adult, they move though the skin, eyes, or other organs causing inflammation (swelling).
Loiasis
(Loa Loa)
Loaisis cannot spread person to person. The parasite completes an important part of its lifecycle inside the deer fly before it can be passed to another human.
Loiasis is caused by the nematodes (roundworm) Loa loa that can inhabit the lymphatics and subcutaneous tissues of humans.