Lymphatic Filariasis: A Neglected Disease

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SARS, tuberculosis, HIVAIDS, malaria, cancer, cardiovascular diseases: These are the current headline diseases. They are also the ones attracting action and resources. Well, rightly so, since these infirmities do cause death and disabilities to millions of people.

But I would like to introduce you to a forgotten disease that is the second biggest cause of disability in the world, next to mental illness. This is the disease called lymphatic filariasis, better known as elephantiasis, since it causes legs and arms to swell like elephant extremities.

Lymphatic filariasis or LF puts at risk more than one billion people worldwide, with over 120 million affected by it, with 40 million seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease in 80 endemic countries. In the Philippines, at least half a …