We have prepared a set of introductory pages describing the biology and distribution of some of the more common and well characterized filarial nematodes. Clicking on the highlighted species names or images in the lists below will take you to a page devoted to that particular organism.

The pathologies of filariases are explained here.

These pages were last updated in 1999. Please note that the fast moving world of new therapies and advanced community treatment have changed the patterns of disease caused by filarial nematodes. If you would like to help update these pages, please see below.

Human Parasites

Several species of filarial nematodes are known to infect humans. Not all cause disease but they include the causative agents of river blindness (Onchocerca) and elephantiasis (Brugia, Wuchereria).

Wuchereria bancrofti	Brugia malayi	Onchocerca volvulus
Loa loa	Brugia timori	Dracunculus medinensis
Mansonella streptocerca	Mansonella perstans	Mansonella ozzardi

Other filaria infecting humans

Wuchereria kalimantani	Brugia beaveri	Mansonella semiclarum
Dipetalonema arbuta	Brugia guyanensis	Mansonella rodhaini
Dipetalonema sprenti

Animal Parasites That Can Infect Man:

Some species of filarial nematodes can occasionally infect humans as well as their animal hosts.

Dirofilaria immitis	Dirofilaria ursi	Dirofilaria repens
Setaria equina	Dirofilaria tenuis	Dirofilaria spectans
Meningonema peruzzi	Dirofilaria striata

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Animal Parasites

These filarial nematodes and their animal hosts are used as models for studies on the biology of human infection and in the search for better drugs or immunoprophylactic vaccines. Dirofilariasis, caused by D. immitis, is a serious disease of domestic dogs.

Acanthocheilonema viteae (previously Dipetalonema viteae)

Brugia pahangi

Litomosoides sigmodontis (ex carinii)

Dirofilaria immitis

Setaria cervi and Setaria digitata (parasites of ungulates in india)

Monanema martini (parasite of the mongolian gerbil)

Please pass comment on these pages. They are intended as a resource for helping non-filariologists, monospecific filariologists and those of us who just plain forget ("What is the structure of Suramin?", "What IS the vector for Dracunculus?"). They will only work if all the errors are cleared up, and lots of new information is added. In particular we would like to update them to cover the last 5 years of success in worldwide treatment of filariases... Post your comments and suggestions to me.