Zoonotic Brugia Filariasis in New England

  1. CATHERINE COOLIDGE, M.D.;
  2. PETER F. WELLER, M.D.;
  3. PAUL G. RAMSEY, M.D.;
  4. ERIC A. OTTESEN, M.D.;
  5. PAUL C. BEAVER, Ph.D.; and
  6. FRANZ C. von LICHTENBERG, M.D.
  1. Boston, Massachusetts; Bethesda, Maryland; and New Orleans, Louisiana

    Abstract

    Three human infections with an animal filarial parasite of a Brugia species have been identified in residents of New England over the past 2 years. All patients were asymptomatic except for local, superficial lymphadenopathy. The diagnosis was established pathologically by the finding of immature brugia worms in the biopsied lymph nodes. Peripheral blood eosinophilia was lacking; in one patient, no lymphocyte blastogenesis to filarial antigens and no antifilarial antibodies were detectable. These cases document a wider geographic range in the Northeast for this zoonosis, which had been previously recognized in two residents of the Middle-Atlantic states. The clinical and pathologic features resulting from the worm's intralymphatic localization and the structure of the brugia worm distinguish this entity from other zoonotic filarial infections.

    Article and Author Information

    • ▸From the Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, the Departments of Medicine and Pathology, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; and the Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans, Louisiana.

    • This study was supported in part by a grant (AI-04919) from the National Institutes of Health (Dr. Beaver) and a grant (AI-02631-20) from the United States-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Dr. von Lichtenberg).

    • ▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Catherine Coolidge, M.D.; Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue; Boston, MA 02115.

      • Received September 5, 1978.
      • Accepted December 11, 1978.
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    This Article

    1. Ann Intern Med March 1, 1979 vol. 90 no. 3 341-343
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