This prospective study will enroll and follow 60 loiasis patients with high worm burden to monitor the spontaneous release of filarial antigen in peripheral blood. This study will define the cross-reactive antigen profile of persons with spontaneous loiasis antigenemia, and determine whether it varies with time.
Global efforts to eradicate lymphatic filariasis (LF) depend on rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) that detect Wuchereria bancrofti circulating filarial antigen but these tests are unreliable in African nations where Loa loa is co-endemic because they yield false-positive results in some individuals with loiasis. The goals of this project are to define the cross-reactive antigen profile of persons with spontaneous antigenemia, how it varies over time, and to determine which L. loa antigens in cross-reactive sera best distinguish loiasis cross-reactivity from LF. This prospective study will prospectively enroll 50 adults who presented with cross-reactive antigenemia at screening and 10 negative controls. Participants will followed for one year and tested every three months for persistence of antigenemia.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
60
Patients in these cohorts will not be given anti-filariasis therapies because these drugs are not approved for use in patients with high worm burdens (\>20,000 Mf/mL)
Centre for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases (CRFilMT)
Yaoundé, Cameroon
prevalence of specific cross-reactive L. loa antigens at baseline
Prevalence of filariasis test strip (FTS) positive individuals at screening. Cross-reactive proteins in plasma will be identified by mass-spectrometry to identify a cross-reactive biomarker
Time frame: 1 day
Recurrence of cross-reactive antigenemia
To determine if the same antigens are present at each follow up
Time frame: quarterly for 1 year
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