Paper II
2024 August (Supplementary) (2010 Scheme) · 40 marks · 120 min

Question

Microfilaria

Q82 marksShort Notes

Answer

Microfilariae are the motile, immature (larval) stage of filarial nematodes (Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, Loa loa), released by adult female worms into the host’s blood/tissue fluid, and constituting the diagnostic/transmissible stage picked up by the arthropod vector.

Structure: thin, thread-like larvae, typically sheathed (W. bancrofti, B. malayi) or unsheathed (Loa loa), with an internal column of somatic nuclei whose arrangement and tail-tip nuclear pattern allow species identification.

Periodicity: W. bancrofti (most strains) — nocturnal periodicity (matching night-biting Culex); Loa loadiurnal periodicity (matching day-biting Chrysops); some Pacific W. bancrofti strains show subperiodic patterns.

Laboratory diagnosis: thick blood smear microscopy (Giemsa), timed to periodicity; concentration techniques (Knott’s method, membrane filtration); circulating filarial antigen (CFA) test — not periodicity-dependent.

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