ArticleThe Lancet. Microbe2023
Association between blood Loa loa microfilarial density and proteinuria levels in a rural area of the Republic of Congo (the MorLo project): a population-based cross-sectional study.
Article in The Lancet. Microbe, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 9 papers.
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9 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Plasma Proteomics Reveals Distinct Signatures in Occult and Microfilaremic Loa loa Infections.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Disability and quality of life assessment using WHODAS-12 items 2.0 and EQ-5D-5L in a rural area endemic for loiasis in the Republic of Congo: A population-based cross-sectional study (the MorLo project).PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Chronic kidney disease related to Loa loa microfilaremia in a rural area of the Republic of Congo: a population-based cross-sectional study.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2025Article
- Association between Loa loa microfilaremia and anatomical hyposplenia in a rural area of the Republic of Congo: a population-based cross-sectional study.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2025Article
- Incidence of loiasis clinical manifestations in a rural area of the Republic of Congo: Results from a longitudinal prospective study (the MorLo project).PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Reported healthcare-seeking of loiasis patients and estimation of the associated monetary burden in Gabon: Data from a cross-sectional survey.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Analysis of diagnostic test outcomes in a large loiasis cohort from an endemic region: Serological tests are often false negative in hyper-microfilaremic infections.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Analysis of the relationship between body habitus and frailty of community adults in Chongqing: a cross-sectional survey study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCase reports have hypothesised that proteinuria, sometimes with glomerulopathy or nephrotic syndromes, might be associated with loiasis. To our knowledge, no study has been done to assess this association. We aimed to investigate the association between Loa loa microfilariae burden and proteinuria.
methodsWe did a cross-sectional study between May 16, 2022, and June 11, 2022, to assess the relationship between Loa loa microfilaraemia densities and proteinuria in a rural area of the Republic of Congo. We included all consenting adults living in the target area at study commencement who had L loa microfilarial densities greater than 500 microfilariae per mL during previous screening for a clinical trial in 2019. This study is part of the MorLo project, and used the project's study population of individuals aged 18 years or older who were living near Sibiti. For each microfilaraemic individual, two individuals without L loa microfilarial densities matched on age, sex, and place of residence were included. The association between proteinuria (assessed by dipstick) and L loa microfilarial densities, age, and sex was assessed using an unconstrained ordinal regression model since the parallel-lines assumption was violated for microfilarial densities.
findings991 participants were included, of whom 342 (35%) were L loa microfilaraemic. The prevalence of microfilaraemia was 38% (122 of 325) among individuals with trace proteinuria (<300 mg/24 h), 51% (45 of 89) among individuals with light proteinuria (300 mg to 1 g/24 h), and 71% (15 of 21) among individuals with high proteinuria (>1 g/24 h). Individuals with high proteinuria had significantly higher L loa microfilarial densities (p<0·0001): mean microfilariae per mL were 1595 (SD 4960) among individuals with no proteinuria, 2691 (7982) for those with trace proteinuria, 3833 (9878) for those with light proteinuria, and 13 541 (20 118) for those with high proteinuria. Individuals with 5000-14 999 microfilariae per mL and individuals with 15 000 microfilariae per mL or greater were, respectively, 5·39 and 20·49 times more likely to have a high proteinuria than individuals with no microfilaraemia.
interpretationThe risk of proteinuria increases with L loa microfilaraemia. Further studies are needed to identify renal disorders (eg, tubulopathies, glomerulopathies, or nephrotic syndromes) responsible for loiasis-related proteinuria.
fundingEuropean Research Council, MorLo project. TRANSLATION: For the French translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.
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