The prevalence of hydrocele in Nigeria and its implication on mapping of lymphatic filariasis

Informed by the public health and socio-economic burden of lymphatic filariasis (LF), the 50th World Health Assembly in May 1997 passed a resolution identifying as a priority the elimination of LF as a public health problem. Elimination programmes were based on the strategy of mass administration of ivermectin and albendazole to people living in endemic communities. The achievement of this strategy required collection of adequate epidemiological data in order to delineate the main LF zones that required priority mass community directed treatment and which was non-existent. The objective of the study was to fillin this gap. In the study, a total of 625 villages were selected from 25 states of the country and out of these, 89 villages (14.2%) were inaccessible at the time of the study. REM based on the rapid examination of 30-50 adult male resident (> 20 years) in selected villages for hydrocoele was carried out in 536 (85.8%) of the selected villages. Of these, 197 (36.8%) villages had males with hydrocoele, though the prevalence varied. Hydrocoele was apparently absent in 339 (63.2%) of the villages examined. These results were integrated into Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing technologies, analyzed and interpreted. The results revealed spatial variation of the LF distribution. These were discussed in the context of the on-going plan to elimination LF in the country. Keywords: Lymphatic filariasis; hydrocoele; Rapid Epidemiological Mapping; Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Parasitology Vol. 27 2006: pp. 29-3