Trends in the incidence of Filariasis in rapidly urbanizing areas

Abstract

Incidence of Lymphatic Filariasis by microfilaraemic prevalence in a study area of Kalutara district,Sri Lanka has been analyzed here. Trends of annual prevalence data are parsimoniously identifiedby least square method. There are no marked fluctuations in microfilaraemic prevalence at the initialstage of the whole study period from 1977 to 2005. Middle period is associated with fluctuationsand continuous decrease is evident at the final stage. These prevalence patterns are interpreted interms of adverse effects of urbanization and also in terms of beneficial effects of the mass treatmentprogramme.

Key words: Curve fitting, lymphatic Filariasis, Microfilaraemic prevalence trends