Filariasis en Puerto Limón, Costa Rica

Abstract

In 1953 the inhabitants, most1y coloured, of 2 5 houses in one city block in the Jamaicatown quarter of Port Limón, situated on the coast of the Carib­bean sea in Costa Rica, were examined for filariasis. Out of 137 patients examin­ed, there were 21 positive cases of microfilariae of W uchereria bancrofti, fluctuat­ing between 1 and 289 per 20 mm3 blood. Among those 2 1 positive cases there were 5 showing insignificant tumefac­tions of the inguinal glands, and one patient showing slight oedema of the foot; the rest had no pathological signs. No elephantiasis was observed. In comparison with the results obtained by BUTTS in Jamaicatown in 1946, no decrease of filariasis could be observed among the inhabitants. Among the mosquitoes caught at Jamaicatown, Culex fatigans is the dominant species. This mosquito is known to play an important role in the trasmission of filariasis.