AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Lymphatic filariasis is a mosquito borne parasitic disease caused newlineby thread like filaroid nematode worms that include Wucheraria bancrofti newlineBrugia malayi and Brugia timori They lodge in the lymphatic system a newlinenetwork of nodes and vessels that maintain the body s fluid balance and an newlineessential component of body s immune system Lymphatic filariasis also newlineknown as Elephantiasis puts at risk more than a billion people across the newlineglobe As part of the Filarial Genome Project many novel genes that are newlineinvolved in immune evasion and parasite survival mechanisms have been newlineidentified from various stages of the parasite life cycle Immune responses newlineand clinical manifestations that are observed in the endemic population newlinedepends to a great extent on various factors from the parasite that modulate or newlineregulate host immune system The consensus of opinion among workers in newlinethis field is that prolonged parasite survival in the host reflects its ability to newlinesuppress or modulate host immune responses This phenomenon and the newlineresulting pathogenesis assumes a broader perspective when parasite newlineassociation with its enodosymbiont Wolbachia bacteria is considered Hence newlinehuman lymphatic filariasis has been described as a disease caused by both newlinenematode and the bacterial components This necessitates a closer look at the newlinerole of Wolbachia component in filarial pathogenesis newline newline%%%appendix p.204-207, reference p.208-249