Imperial College London
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Charlie Whittaker

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Research Fellow
 
 
 
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Contact

 

charles.whittaker16

 
 
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Location

 

Sir Michael Uren HubWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Hemilembolo:2023:ofid/ofad103,
author = {Hemilembolo, MC and Niama, AC and Campillo, JT and Pion, SD and Missamou, F and Whittaker, C and Kankou, JM and Ndziessi, G and Bileckot, RR and Boussinesq, M and Chesnais, CB},
doi = {ofid/ofad103},
journal = {Open Forum Infectious Diseases},
title = {Excess Mortality Associated with Loiasis: Confirmation by a New Retrospective Cohort Study Conducted in the Republic of Congo},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofad103},
volume = {10},
year = {2023}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background. Loiasis (Loa loa filariasis) is considered a benign disease and is currently not included in the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) list of Neglected Tropical Diseases, despite mounting evidence suggesting significant disease burden in endemic areas. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the mortality associated with L. loa microfilaremia in the Southwestern Republic of Congo. Methods. The cohort included 3329 individuals from 53 villages screened for loiasis in 2004. We compared mortality rates in 2021 for individuals initially diagnosed as with or without L. loa microfilariae 17 years earlier. Data were analyzed at the community level to calculate crude mortality rates. Survival models were used to estimate the effect of L. loa microfilaremia on mortality in the population. Results. At baseline, prevalence of microfilaremia was 16.2%. During 17.62 years of cohort follow-up, 751 deaths were recorded, representing a crude mortality rate of 15.36 (95% CI, 14.28–16.50) per 1000 person-years. Median survival time was 58.5 (95% CI, 49.7–67.3) years and 39.2 (95% CI, 32.6–45.8) years for amicrofilaremic and microfilaremic indiviudals, respectively. Conclusions. A significant reduction in life expectancy was associated with L. loa microfilaremia, confirming previous observations from Cameroon. This adds to the evidence that loiasis is not a benign disease and deserves to be included in the WHO’s list of Neglected Tropical Diseases.
AU  - Hemilembolo,MC
AU  - Niama,AC
AU  - Campillo,JT
AU  - Pion,SD
AU  - Missamou,F
AU  - Whittaker,C
AU  - Kankou,JM
AU  - Ndziessi,G
AU  - Bileckot,RR
AU  - Boussinesq,M
AU  - Chesnais,CB
DO  - ofid/ofad103
PY  - 2023///
TI  - Excess Mortality Associated with Loiasis: Confirmation by a New Retrospective Cohort Study Conducted in the Republic of Congo
T2  - Open Forum Infectious Diseases
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofad103
VL  - 10
ER  -
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