Filarial

**Class:** Cestoda
 * Common Name: Filarial Worm **
 * Phylum: ﻿Nematoda **
 * Scientific Name: **//Wuchereria bancrofti//

**Location:** They are found mostly along bodies of water in tropical areas of Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.

**Size:** Males measuring 51 to 86 mm and the females 117 to 224 mm in length.

**Living Requirements:** The Filarial Worm completes its entire life cycle in its human host. Once the larvae are injected by an infected bug, they grow into adult worms and reproduce, creating microfilariae. These juvenile worms' location just under the skin makes them ripe for being ingested by feeding mosquitoes
 * Habitat: Filarial Worms' live under the human skin. **



**Life Cycle:** After the male and female worms mate, the female gives birth to live microfilariae by the thousands. The microfilariae are taken up by the vector insect (intermediate host) during a blood meal. In the intermediate host, the microfilariae molt and develop into 3rd stage (infective) larvae. Upon taking another blood meal, the vector insect injects the infectious larvae into the dermis layer of the skin. After about one year, the larvae molt through 2 more stages, maturing into the adult worms.

**Male and Female Differences:** The female worm produces large numbers of microscopic, active embryos called microfilariae that pass into the bloodstream of the primary host. The adult worms differ in length according to their sex.


 * Human Impact: Humans can get diseases. We give them a place to live and to eat. **
 * Facts: **
 * An infected fly or mosquito bites a human and deposits larvae of the filarial worm into the feeding site.
 * The parasites Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori cause lymphatic filariasis. Worsening symptoms often lead to a condition known as elephantiasis, which causes unusually large swelling in the extremities
 * Filarial worm infestations occur in several countries, including Australia, Africa, the Philippines, Asia, and South America. Human worm infections are one of the leading causes of disability, especially those that affect the eyes and the lymph vessels.[[image:guinea-worm.jpg width="278" height="272" align="right"]]
 * Zookeeper's Sources: **
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