Antigenemia in young children living in Wuchereria bancrofti-endemic areas of Orissa, India

The prevalence of filarial antigenemia (an indicator of adult worm burden) among 610 children, aged 3-15 years, was determined in three endemic villages of Khurda District, Orissa, India, during 2005. Prevalence of antigenemia, detected using Og4C3 circulating filarial antigen ELISA, was 32.6% compared with 10% microfilaraemia. Although the prevalence of antigenemia increased marginally with increase in age, no significant difference was observed among the children of different age groups (28.3% in 3-5 years, 31.5% in 6-10 years and 35.2% in 11-15 years), indicating that the adult worm burdens did not vary much according to the age of the study children. Gender did not influence the prevalence of antigenemia. The study emphasizes the advantage of using the circulating filarial antigen assay for detecting true filarial infection and demonstrates a high prevalence of antigenemia among the 610 children studied.