Loa loa Microfilariae in Skin Snips: Consequences for Onchocerciasis Monitoring and Evaluation in L. loa-Endemic Areas.

Nana-Djeunga, Hugues C; Fossuo-Thotchum, Floribert; Pion, Sébastien D; Chesnais, Cédric B; Kubofcik, Joseph; Mackenzie, Charles D; Klion, Amy D; Boussinesq, Michel et al. · Clin Infect Dis · 2019

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

The specificity of skin snips for onchocerciasis diagnoses is considered to be almost 100%. Our molecular methods revealed that microfilariae emerging from skin snips collected from highly microfilaremic Loa loa-infected individuals were largely misidentified as Onchocerca volvulus. This has important implications for onchocerciasis diagnostic testing in Loa-endemic areas.

Medical subject headings