Observations on filariasis in Colombia

1. 1. Filariasis was first encountered on the Tropical Oil Concession in Colombia in 1929 but it had apparently been present for several preceding years. 2. 2. The incidence of the disease is approximately 16 per 1,000 employees per annum. Healthy carriers are rare in the community. 3. 3. The great majority of the cases showed involvement of the inguinal lymph glands as a result of infection. Elephantiasis was rarely encountered. 4. 4. The usual methods of treatment have been found to be ineffective in overcoming the disability of infected employees. Intravenous injections of tartar emetic solution were occasionally beneficial and are worth a trial. 5. 5. The treatment of early filariasis by the intravenous injection of T.A.B. vaccine, while rather strenuous, usually results in a rapid disappearance of the disabling symptoms and is rarely followed by a recurrence of the original condition. This treatment has no specific action on the adult worm as it produces no diminution in the number of circulating microfilariæ.