Wuchereria

A genus of filarial nematodes (family Onchocercidae, superfamily Filarioidea) characterized by adult forms that live chiefly in lymphatic vessels and produce large numbers of embryos or microfilariae that circulate in the bloodstream (microfilaremia), often appearing in the peripheral blood at regular intervals. The extreme form of this infection (wuchereriasis or filariasis) is elephantiasis or pachydermia.

- W. bancrofti the bancroftian filaria, a species endemic in South Pacific islands, coastal China, India, and Burma, and throughout tropical Africa and northeastern South America (including certain Caribbean islands); transmitted to humans (apparently the only definitive host) by mosquitoes, especially Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes pseudoscutellaris, but also by several other species of Culex, Aedes, Anopheles, and Mansonia, depending on the specific geographic area; adults are white, 40–100 mm cylindroid, threadlike worms, and the microfilariae are ensheathed, with rounded anterior end and tapered, nonnucleated tail; the adult worms inhabit the larger lymphatic vessels ( e.g., in the extremities (especially lower), breasts, spermatic cord, and retroperitoneal tissues) and the sinuses of lymph node s ( e.g., the popliteal, femoral, and inguinal groups, and also the epitrochlear and axillary nodes), where they sometimes cause temporary obstruction to the flow of lymph and slight or moderate degrees of inflammation.

- W. malayi former name for Brugia malayi.

* * *

Wuch·er·e·ria .wu̇k-ə-'rir-ē-ə n a genus of filarial worms of the family Dipetalonematidae including a parasite (W. bancrofti) that causes elephantiasis

Wu·cher·er 'vu̇k-ər-ər Otto Eduard Heinrich (1820-1873)

German physician. Wucherer practiced medicine in London, Lisbon, and in several cities in Brazil. In 1866 he discovered hookworms in Brazil. That same year he discovered filarial worms of the genus Wuchereria (W. bancrofti) in chylous urine.

* * *

n.

a genus of white threadlike parasitic worms (see filaria) that live in the lymphatic vessels. W. bancrofti is a tropical and subtropical species that causes elephantiasis, lymphangitis, and chyluria. The immature forms concentrate in the lungs during the day. At night they become more numerous in the blood vessels of the skin, from which they are taken up by blood-sucking mosquitoes, acting as carriers of the diseases they cause.

* * *

Wu·cher·e·ria (voo″kər-erґe-ə) [Otto Wucherer, German physician in Brazil, 1820–1873] a genus of nematodes of the superfamily Filarioidea that affect mainly humans in warm regions of the world.