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Volume 32, Number 7—July 2026
Research
Molecular Epidemiology of Skin-Dwelling Filariae and Risk Factors for Mansonella streptocerca Infection, Gabon
Capucine Marie Sicard, Mara Fischer, Chiara Wizemann, Marilen Bartling, Linda Martin, Miriam Rodi, Juliana Inoue, Sabrina Valeria Sinopoli, Esther Mehmel, Andrea Kreidenweiss, Pierre Blaise Matsiegui, Michael Ramharter, Selidji Todagbe Agnandji, and Jana Held
Table 2
Population characteristics and prevalence of filarial DNA in 1,007 scapular skin snips in study of molecular epidemiology of skin-dwelling filariae and risk factors for Mansonella streptocerca infection, Gabon*
| Category | No. (%) participants |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Age, y |
||||
| 18–34 | 35–50 | 51–62 | >63 | ||
| Total |
1,007 (100.0) |
249 (24.7) |
261 (25.9) |
249 (24.7) |
231 (22.9) |
| Sex | |||||
| F | 489 (48.6) | 111 (22.7) | 125 (25.6) | 129 (26.4) | 120 (24.5) |
| M |
507 (50.3) |
137 (27.0) |
136 (26.8) |
120 (23.7) |
111 (21.9) |
| Setting | |||||
| Rural | 643 (63.9) | 142 (22.1) | 151 (23.5) | 157 (24.4) | 180 (28.0) |
| Semiurban |
364 (36.1) |
107 (29.4) |
110 (30.2) |
92 (25.3) |
51 (14.0) |
| Occupation | |||||
| Agriculture and forestry | 447 (44.4) | 76 (17.0) | 121 (27.1) | 131 (29.3) | 118 (26.4) |
| Nonagricultural manual labor | 82 (8.1) | 20 (24.4) | 32 (39.0) | 18 (22.0) | 12 (14.6) |
| Health and public sector | 86 (8.5) | 14 (16.3) | 23 (26.7) | 25 (29.1) | 24 (27.9) |
| Commerce | 49 (4.9) | 9 (18.4) | 23 (46.9) | 14 (28.6) | 3 (6.1) |
| Other |
328 (32.6) |
130 (39.6) |
61 (18.6) |
61 (18.6) |
74 (22.6) |
| qPCR results | |||||
| Pan-filaria qPCR positive | 184 (18.3) | 47 (25.5) | 41 (22.3) | 47 (25.5) | 45 (24.5) |
| M. streptocerca qPCR positive | 143 (14.2) | 37 (25.9) | 34 (23.8) | 34 (23.8) | 35 (24.5) |
| Loa loa qPCR positive | 41 (4.1) | 9 (22.0) | 12 (29.3) | 15 (36.6) | 5 (12.2) |
| O. volvulus qPCR positive | 34 (3.4) | 11 (32.4) | 4 (11.8) | 10 (29.4) | 7 (20.6) |
| M. perstans qPCR positive | 3 (0.3) | 1 (33.3) | 0 | 1 (33.3) | 1 (33.3) |
| Mansonella sp. “DEUX” qPCR positive | 1 (0.1) | 0 | 0 | 1 (100.0) | 0 |
| Co-infections, >2 species) | 38 (3.8) | 9 (23.7) | 9 (23.7) | 14 (36.8) | 5 (13.2) |
*Totals may not sum to 100% due to missing or unknown responses, which are not displayed in the table. qPCR, quantitative PCR.
Page created: May 14, 2026
Page updated: June 09, 2026
Page reviewed: June 09, 2026
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