Surface area calculation for Onchocerca volvulus microfilariae
Kron, M.A.; Mackenzie, C.D.
Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Official Organ of Deutsche Tropenmedizinische Gesellschaft and of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit 42(2): 151-152
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0177-2392 PMID: 1896774 Document Number: 384804
The approximate surface area of a single microfilaria of O. volvulus was calculated using mathematical formulae for standard geometrical shapes and values derived from serial measurements of electron micrographs. The surface of a single microfilaria was approximately 9.0 x 10-3mmsuperscript 2. Thus the surface area represented by 1000 microfilariae is 9 mmsuperscript 2, more than twice that of a small skin snip (4 mmsuperscript 2) which can, in heavy infections, contain over 1000 microfilariae. If a human's total microfilarial burden reaches 108, then the cumulative surface area approaches 1 msuperscript 2. From serial measurements of electron micrographs and general geometric principles the authors calculate that the surface area of a single Onchocerca volvulus microfilaria is about 9.0 x 10-3 mmsuperscript 2. They state that the surface area represented by 1000 O. volvulus microfilariae (9 mmsuperscript 2) is over twice the surface area of the human skin from which they emerged. The total microfilarial burden of a human host may reach 100 million: the cumulative surface area of these 108 microfilariae would approach 1 msuperscript 2.Carolyn A. Brown.