Genital oedema in relation to filariasis in the Gold Coast.

Between June and September 1944 there were 875 African soldiers admitted to the 37th General Hospital at Accra in the Gold Coast. Of these there were 10 who showed genital oedema in which filariasis was suspected. The oedema affected the penis in all of these patients and the scrotum also in 7 of them. On each an examination was made for microfilariae, by means of a day-and-night blood film to detect blood-borne varieties, and of the taking of a small.skin scraping from the inner aspect of the thigh to detect the lymphatic-borne embryos of Onchocerca volvulus. In addition a blood count was done for the detection of eosinophilia. Parasites were demonstrated in 7 of the patients, of whom 5 showed the microfilariae of Loa loa in the blood and one had microfflariae of Acanthocheilonema perstans; in another the existence of onchocerciasis was proved by the skin scraping.