European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

FILARIA AT UNUSUAL SITES WITH REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Dr. Dinesh Kulkarni, M.D. (PATH), *Dr. Ritesh Sulegaon M.D. (PATH) and Dr. Shashidhar Chulki

ABSTRACT

Filariasis is caused by a parasite species Filarioidia and is a vector borne disease transmitted by mosquito bite. It remains asymptomatic in most of the patients but can present as unilateral non-pitting pedal edema, enlargement of male and female genitalia and can also present in other organs as painless swellings of long duration. Our area is endemic for filariasis and patients commonly present as leg swelling and genital enlargement, but some were found to involve unusual sites like Breast and Conjunctiva. All these cases were diagnosed on biopsy and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC). One of the control measures is mosquito eradication and use of prophylactic drug Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) which is regularly followed up in our endemic area.

Keywords: FILARIASIS, BIOPSY, F.N.A.C., LYMPHNODE, EPIDIDYMIS, BREAST, CONJUNCTIVA.