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LOGNE, Haiti Like many surgeons, Dr. Yves Laurissaint is a man supremely sure of himself.
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Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times
Filariasis is spread by mosquitos that carry the larvae of the worms that cause it. One tragedy of the disease is that while the swelling and pain it causes can sometimes be treated, filariasis itself cannot be cured. More Photos
On the Brink: Filariasis
Tormented and Ashamed
This is the fourth in a series of articles about five diseases polio, guinea worm, blinding trachoma, lymphatic filariasis and measles that are extinct in the developed world but stubbornly persistent in some poor nations. As the diseases hover on the brink of eradication, doctors and scientists face daunting obstacles as they struggle to finish the job.
The Disease
- As numbers of adult worms accumulate in "nest balls," lymph vessels stretch and their fluid cannot drain.
- This creates "elephantiasis" - legs so engorged that they resemble an elephant's.
- But 10 times as common, though it is rarely spoken of, is the disabling swelling of the scrotum.
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