Ep 129 Lymphatic Filariasis: Hiding in plain sight

This Podcast Will Kill You

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness, Science

4.8 • 17.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2023

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With a history extending back millennia, with a biology that leads to permanent disability for tens of millions of people globally, and with a bacterial endosymbiont that may prove to be its Achilles heel, the filarial parasites that cause lymphatic filariasis are quite the complex creatures. In this episode, we explore the intricacies of this neglected tropical disease - also known as elephantiasis. We start by examining its complicated ecology involving many mosquito and parasite species, before moving on to its tricky biology where we finally answer the age-old question, “What is the lymphatic system anyway?”. Next, we move on to the convoluted history of lymphatic filariasis, where it holds the distinction of being the first disease recognized as mosquito-borne. We wrap up the episode with a look at its present global status, grappling with some current figures on the tremendous global burden of this disease and investigating some exciting treatment developments that will hopefully bring relief to the hundreds of millions of people at risk of developing this debilitating disease.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:06.0	Many put their hope in Dr. Serhat.
0:09.0	His company was worth half a billion dollars.
0:11.0	His research promised groundbreaking treatments for
0:14.3	HIV and cancer, but the brilliant doctor was hiding a secret. You can listen to
0:20.0	Dr Death, bad magic, exclusively an ad free by subscribing to Wendry Plus in the Wendry app.
0:26.7	Rahab Joshua runs a small business in Plateau State Nigeria selling rice and ground
0:31.4	maize at the local market.
0:33.0	She has a great smile, six bright children, a supportive husband,
0:37.0	and she has lymphatic filaryasis.
0:40.0	I used to have fever attacks, and for weeks I could not do anything, not even take care of my family.
0:45.0	Rahab noticed the symptoms of lymph lymph
0:48.0	when she had her fourth child and the progressive swelling of her legs sent her on a desperate search for treatment.
0:55.6	The journey for relief brought none and depleted her family's finances.
1:00.3	One man used a razor blade, he made cuts in my leg, then used the suction device.
1:05.4	He told me he had removed something, but if he took something out,
1:09.1	why was the leg getting bigger and bigger?
1:11.6	As Rahab's deformity grew, her circle of friends shriveled.
1:16.4	Someone gave me new clothes to pass on to another woman, but she refused to collect them because they came
1:21.6	through me. During that time I cried a lot. You can't
1:26.2	imagine how happy I am that my children and grandchildren will never have to go through
1:30.7	this. Oh, Oh, you know.
	...

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