Table 1 Lymphatic Filariasis

   • Caused by thread-like parasitic worms (Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori) that damage the human lymphatic system – transmitted by mosquitoes (see additional file 1)

   • One of the most disabling and disfiguring of diseases

   • 80+ endemic countries (Figure 1)

   • 1+ billion people are at risk of infection

   • 120 million people are infected. Of these...

• 43 million people have swelling of the limbs and breasts (known as lymphoedema) and genitals (known as hydrocoele), and their more chronic state – known as elephantiasis – in which the skin becomes enormously thickened, and is rough, hard, and fissured

   • It is a disease of poverty – affecting the "poorest of the poor" – preventing those afflicted from living a normal working and social life (See additional file 2)

   • Children acquire the disease early and are blighted for life