Mansonella ozzardiand its vectors in the New World: an update with emphasis on the current situation in Haiti

Abstract

Mansonella ozzardi (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) is a little studied filarial nematode. This human parasite, transmitted by two families of dipteran vectors, biting midges (most of them members of the genus Culicoides) and blackflies (genus Simulium), is endemic to the Neotropical regions of the New World. With a patchy geographical distribution from southern Mexico to north-western Argentina, human infection with M. ozzardi is highly prevalent in some of the Caribbean islands, along riverine communities in the Amazon Basin, and on both sides of the border between Bolivia and Argentina. Studies conducted in Haiti between 1974 and 1984 allowed the first complete description of the adult worm and permitted clarification of the taxonomic position of this filarial species. This paper reports the known geographical distribution of M. ozzardi in Neotropical regions of the Americas, and focuses on the current situation in Haiti where this filariasis remains a completely neglected public health problem.

Mansonellosis: current perspectives

“…As M. ozzardi was originally the only parasite of the Mansonella genus known to infect humans, 10 the term “mansonellosis” and its synonym “mansonelliasis” were, until the mid-1980s, applied only to infections caused by this one species. 11 – 15 The modern use of the term 1 – 5 began only after Orihel and Eberhard revised the genus Mansonella and added M. perstans and M. streptocerca .…”

CD39 and immune regulation in a chronic helminth infection: The puzzling case of Mansonella ozzardi

“…M . ozzardi has a patchy geographic distribution from southern Mexico to northwestern Argentina, with overall prevalence ranging from <1% to 46% in affected communities [ 8 , 9 ]. Adult worms have been recovered from subcutaneous tissues of experimentally infected patas monkeys [ 10 ], but their habitat in human hosts remains uncertain.…”

New Molecular Data on Filaria and its Wolbachia from Red Howler Monkeys (Alouatta macconnelli) in French Guiana—A Preliminary Study

“…Thanks to the MDA program, river blindness (onchocerciasis caused by O. volvulus ) transmission is currently limited to the Amazon rainforest on the Venezuelan–Brazilian border, while the lymphatic filariasis caused by W. bancrofti only occurs in four countries: Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Haiti [ 31 ]. Another human sympatric filariasis caused by M. ozzardi and M. perstans occurs today in a small foci in South America (Amazon Basin, Yucatan, Panama and Haiti) [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. In Latin America, domestic and wild animals seem to be the foci of some neglected filariasis potentially zoonotic such as Brugia guyanensis (Orihel 1964) from the lymphatic system of the coatimundi ( Nasua nasua vittata ) in French Guiana [ 35 ] and some unidentified Brugian filariids in dogs and ring-tailed coatis ( Nasua nasua ) [ 25 , 36 ], and the zoonotic canine filariasis (e.g., D. immitis and Acanthocheilonema reconditum ) from Brazil and French Guiana [ 25 , 37 ].…”