Animalia > Nematoda > Chromadorea > Rhabditida > Onchocercidae > Loa > Loa loa

Loa loa

Wikipedia Abstract

Loa loa filariasis is a skin and eye disease caused by the nematode worm Loa loa. Humans contract this disease through the bite of a deer fly or mango fly (Chrysops spp), the vectors for Loa loa. The adult Loa loa filarial worm migrates throughout the subcutaneous tissues of humans, occasionally crossing into subconjunctival tissues of the eye where it can be easily observed. Loa loa does not normally affect one's vision but can be painful when moving about the eyeball or across the bridge of the nose. The disease can cause red itchy swellings below the skin called "Calabar swellings". The disease is treated with the drug diethylcarbamazine (DEC), and when appropriate, surgical methods may be employed to remove adult worms from the conjunctiva.
View Wikipedia Record: Loa loa

Providers

Parasite of 
Cercopithecus nictitans (white-nosed guenon)[1]
Equus caballus (horse)[1]
Gorilla gorilla (gorilla)[1]
Homo sapiens (man)[1]
Mandrillus leucophaeus (drill)[1]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0