Prevalence of microfilaria load of Onchocercal volvulus in some parts of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nine hundred and sixty volunteers made up of males and females from age-group 5-62+ in Okigwe LGA, Imo State Nigeria were examined for Microfilaria load (MFL) between January 2008 and 2012, using parasitological examination was carried out by two techniques; skin snipping and microscopy on 960 volunteers individuals. There was 36.3% reduction rate of mf prevalence from 51.8% mf rate to 33.0% in 2012 after 15 years of mass drug administration (p<0.005). Community Microfilaria Load (CMFL) is generally low among the sampled-villages 0.90 mf per milligram (p<0.001). This implied that treatment with ivermectin has a significant impact on the microfilaria load of Onchocerca volvulus therefore long term treatment with ivermectin after more than 15 years there is hope that there will be total elimination of onchocercoaisis in the study-area because many villages are having zero prevalence of microfilaria load.

Keywords: Onchocerca volvulus, microfilaria load, skin snip, parasitological, microscopy, mass drug administration.