[Current situation of patients with chronic filariasis in Lianshui County, Ji- angsu Province].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the current situation of chronic filariasis patients in Lianshui County. METHODS: The chronic filariasis patients registered were interviewed one by one to observe their clinical signs and episodes of illness during recent one year. RESULTS: There were 361 patients with chronic filariasis in Lianshui County up to 2014, and they distributed in 23 townships. Among all the patients, 128 were male and 233 were female. Most of the patients were farmers (98.34%) and aged ≥ 70 years (63.71%). The clinical signs of the patients including lymphedema of the lower limbs (87.81%), chyluria (18.56%), lymphangitis or lymphadenitis (12.74%) and hydrocele of tunica vaginalis (2.49%), and there were 8.86% of the patients showed more than two signs. Among the patients with lymphedema of lower limbs, 97.79% were in stage I to III, and 2.21% were in stage IV. In 2014, the ill condition of 28.36% of the patients with chyluria and 45.65% of the ones with lymphangitis or lymphadenitis relapsed. CONCLUSION: The concern and care to the patients with chronic filariasis should be continued, so as to reduce the pain as well as improve the quality of life of them.