LF in Haiti Sample Clauses

LF in Haiti. LF has been recognized in Haiti since at least the mid-1700s, first referred to as “pied- botte”3 by the country’s early French colonizers [24]. Endemic to Hispaniola since its importation during the transatlantic slave trade, W. bancrofti was detected using blood smears in the 20th century among Haitian workers in Cuba [25]. The first nationwide survey of LF in Haiti would not be conducted until nearly 100 years later, by Xx. Xxxxxx Xxxx de Rochars in 2000 [9]. In Haiti, LF-associated lymphedema and elephantiasis of the legs is colloquially known as xxx xxx, and hydrocele is known as xxx xxxxx or maklouklou4. Haitians with xxx xxx or xxx xxxxx are subjected not only to physical suffering but also to isolating social stigma. Early onset of xxx xxx has especially large impact on Haitian women [26]. Women are more than 10 times more likely than men to develop xxx xxx, and the debilitating lymphedema associated with the disease prevents many women from pursuing economic opportunities and decreases chances of marriage [27–29]. A relationship between LF and poverty has been clearly established [30]. With the highest poverty rate and poorest health indicators in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti also bears the greatest burden of LF. Average national prevalence of filarial antigenemia has been estimated to be 7.3%, though there is considerable variation across Haiti’s 145 communes, ranging from 1% in the southern communes and eastern border with the Dominican Republic, to as high as 45% along the northern coast and in the areas surrounding Port-au-Prince [9]. Within communes, 3 “Pied-botte” translates to “club foot” in French. LF and club foot were not differentiated by medical science of the time. 4 “Xxx xxx” literally translates to “big foot” in Haitian Creole. “Xxx xxxxx” translates to “Big testicles/scrotum.”