This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Clinical features

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

There may be:

  • fever
  • lymphangitis
  • varicosities of the lymphatic vessels
  • chylous ascites
  • hydrocoeles
  • chyluria
  • chylous fistulae on the scrotum and groins:
    • scrotal involvement occurs almost exclusively in Bancroftian filariasis
  • solid oedema - elephantiasis - most commonly affecting the legs, scrotum and arms, but may occur anywhere
  • hyperkeratosis of the extremities

After a 10-12 month incubation period, the patient may present with a fever lasting 3-5 days. There may be lymphangitis with the involved superficial lymphatics appearing as red streaks, which are tender and cord like. The inflammation may improve spontaneously, though it is often recurrent. This inflammatory phase is then followed by lymphatic obstruction, which long-term produces elephantiasis with distal thick rough skin which occasionally ulcerates.

Nocturnal respiratory symptoms such as cough, dyspnoea or wheeze is suggestive of tropical pulmonary eosinophilia.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page