[Epidemiology of filariasis (onchocerciasis and bancroftosis) in the Tala-Mokolo region (Mandara Mountains of North Cameroon)].

The effect of the bancroftian filariasis on the health of the inhabitants are minimal in the study area, where the prevalence of the disease (nocturnal microfilaremia) is 0.4% only. But skin snips harboring Onchocerca microfilariae are seen in 12.1% of the sample studied. Onchocerciasis skin lesions, low visual acuity and blindness are often seen in the villages where the prevalence is high, among inhabitants more than 40 years of age. Simulium damnosum is seldom seen in the area, except in the large streams and rivers like the mayo Tsanaga and the mayo Djingliya. Larvae and nymphae of this species hardly succeed in developing on the overspelling of the small dams, this being due more to a discontinuous run of the water in the overspilling than to a to high speed of the water.