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Vector intervention using insecticide-treated bed nets has been an important component in malaria-control programs. Might use of such bed nets also help to eliminate lymphatic filariasis?
To find out, researchers measured transmission of Wuchereria bancrofti — one of the nematodes that cause lymphatic filariasis — in five villages in Papua New Guinea before and after a nationwide bed-net distribution effort in 2009. These villages had participated in an annual mass administration of antifilarial drugs conducted between 1993 and 1998, and entomologic and human-infection data were available for them from this earlier period.
Immediately before bed-net distribution, 3.8% and 12.4% of households in the two villages surveyed reported use of any ty…