Investigating development of infective stage larvae of filarial nematodes.

Lymphatic filariasis is a parasitic disease affecting millions of individuals and one of the leading causes of disability in the world. However, considering the magnitude of filariasis as a public health problem, relatively little is known about the basic biology of the disease and its causative agents, filarial nematodes. In this paper, the biology of the infective stage larvae of the nematodes responsible for lymphatic filariasis and the approaches used to study their development are reviewed.