BANCROFTIAN FILARIASIS - LONG-TERM EFFECT OF THE DEG PROVOCATIVE DAY TEST ON MICROFILAREMIA

The diethylcarbamazine (DEC) provocative day test has been widely used for daytime diagnosis of Wuchereria bancrofti infections in areas whe re microfilariae exhibit nocturnal periodicity. Since DEC is also the primary drug for treatment of bancroftian filariasis, we examined the long term effect of the rest on microfilaraemia in 2 groups of individ uals receiving either 100 mg of DEC: (n=51) or placebo (n=20). The low dose of DEC had a significant therapeutic effect. One year after trea tment, the geometric mean intensity of microfilaraemia was reduced by 86.1%, and 10.6% of the individuals were amicrofilaraemic. No signific ant reduction of microfilaraemia was observed in the placebo group. Th e results imply that the DEC provocative day test should not be used a s a diagnostic tool in follow-up studies on microfilaraemias.