Smithkline Beecham and Merck are donating to the World Health Organisation all the medicines needed for a world-wide campaign to eliminate lymphatic filariasis by 2020.
The disease, which can lead to the disfiguring condition elephantiasis, is one of six infectious diseases identified by an international taskforce in 1993 as diseases that could be eradicated. It is caused by two species of parasitic worm which can live for up to six years in the lymphatic system, causing lymphoedema. Secondary bacterial infection and the inflammatory process cause the skin to harden and thicken. Transmission of the disease is by mosquito bites.
Populations in endemic areas - tropical Africa, Asia and South America - are to be treated annually with single doses of albendazole with either ivermectin or diethylcarbamazine for four to six years. The programme starts in Nigeria, Egypt and Samoa this month and will cover the remaining countries by the end of the year.
Details of the scheme can be found on the internet at www.filariasis.org.