Elephantiasis

In the quiet of a courtyard in the northern Nigerian city of Jos, a dozen people sit in a circle on white plastic chairs, talking about their affliction: lymphatic filariasis, an infectious disease also known as elephantiasis.

Lymphatic filariasis, more commonly known as elephantiasis, afflicts many of the world's most vulnerable communities.

The study in Zanzibar, part of Tanzania, involved a three-drug regimen of ivermectin, albendazole and praziquantel. The drugs are active against worms that cause elephantiasis and schistosomiasis and soil-worms or helminths.

More than one billion people in 80 countries are at risk of contracting lymphatic filariasis, known as elephantiasis, which is transmitted by mosquitos infected with parasitic filarial worms. The worms lodge in the lymphatic system, causing accumulations of lymph fluid that lead to massive swellings of limbs, usually the feet.