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Today Merck announced an expansion of the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) to reach up to an additional 100 million people per year through 2025 to support the expansion of triple-drug therapy as part of the global effort to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF). DOLF research showed that adding ivermectin to diethylcarbamazine and albendazole can accelerate the […]

Earlier today WHO published new guidelines for alternative MDA regimens for LF in the Weekly Epidemiological Record. The new guidelines recommend: • Triple drug therapy (IDA) for use in countries using diethylcarbamazine + albendazole (DA) in special settings• Annual ivermectin + albendazole (IA) rather than biannual IA in countries endemic for LF and onchocerciasis, except […]

In March of 2017, DOLF researchers, Ramakrishna Rao and Philip Budge traveled to Galle, Sri Lanka to test a new portable scanner with the potential to revolutionize the measurement of limbs affected by lymphatic filariasis (LF). The scanner, which is produced by the Atlanta-based startup, LymphaTech, uses infrared scanning technology similar to that found in […]

Donors, endemic countries, researchers and program managers came together at the NTD Summit in Geneva, Switzerland between April 19-22 to celebrate progress and set a path towards meeting the 2020 goals for eliminating neglected tropical diseases.  Five members of the DOLF team attended the NTD Summit to share important results with the NTD community. The […]

The DOLF project celebrated an important milestone on February 9th. Our Community Based Safety Study of 2-drug vs. 3-drug Therapy for Lymphatic Filariasis completed enrolling and treating 10,000 participants in each of the treatment arms. This achieves the primary objective of the study: measuring the treatment related adverse events following treatment with the 3-drug combination […]

Last November at the COR-NTD Innovation Lab in Atlanta DOLF Project Manager, Joshua Bogus, demonstrated the capabilities of a tablet-based electronic data capture system that is being used in the Community Based Safety Study of 2-drug vs. 3-drug Therapy for Lymphatic Filariasis. This study is set to collect about 30,000 patient data, across 5 countries, […]

Investigators from several DOLF sites met in St. Louis from June 1-2, to plan for new studies that will investigate a novel treatment for lymphatic filariasis.

The 6th Annual DOLF Meeting was convened in Geneva, Switzerland and generously hosted by the World Health Organization. Members of the Technical Advisory Team (TAT), DOLF researchers, and scientific collaborators, met on April 5 – 6 to review progress of the DOLF project and to discuss strategic issues for DOLF and for elimination programs for […]

July 31, 2015 This summer the DOLF team has been busy collecting data from three of our study sites. Washington University in St. Louis investigator, Dr. Peter Fischer, and project manager for operations, Joshua Bogus, were in Côte d’Ivoire for the beginning of the first annual follow-up surveys. For two weeks in June, they joined […]

April 30, 2015 Conventional Parasitology and DNA-based Diagnostic Methods for Onchocerciasis Elimination Programmes Commonly used methods of diagnosing Onchocerca vululus infections (microscopic detection of microfilaria in skin snips and nodule palpation) are insensitive. Improved methods are needed for monitoring and evaluation of onchocerciasis elimination programs and for clinical diagnosis.This paper reports on the development and […]

April 23, 2015 When the first cases of Ebola in Liberia were reported in Lofa County in March 2014, the DOLF project management team immediately suspended research activities located in the county. No one knew at the time that this would be the worst Ebola outbreak in history. In Liberia the disease infected more than […]

January 30, 2015 The 8th biennial meeting of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF 8) was held in December 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The DOLF team was invited to present important findings at a special session dedicated to operational research. Health ministers and policy experts heard from Drs. Gary Weil and Peter […]

January 9, 2015   Filarial Antigenemia and Loa loa Night Blood Microfilaremia in an Area Without Bancroftian Filariasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo Elimination of lymphatic filariasis from areas co-endemic for loiasis is a problem, because ivermectin cannot be safely used for mass drug administration. In this study from the Orientale region of the […]

The 5th Annual DOLF Meeting was convened in Montpellier, France and generously hosted by the Institute Bouisson Bertrand (IBB) and the Institute de Recherche pour le Developpment (IRD). Members of the Technical Advisory Team (TAT), DOLF researchers, and scientific collaborators, met on September 18-19 to review progress of the DOLF project and to discuss strategic […]

  Dear Friends and Colleagues: The DOLF project is pleased to announce that Joshua Bogus has joined our team as Global Health Project Manager for Operations. Joshua brings a strong academic background and highly relevant work experience to the project. He holds a Bachelor of International Relations degree from Stanford University and a Master of […]

The DOLF Project (supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) is conducting community MDA studies and clinical trials that aim to optimize treatments for elimination of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis. With 11 field studies in 8 countries in Africa and in the Asian-Pacific region, we are studying the value of accelerated MDA in different […]

DOLF Helminth Diagnostic Attendees:

DOLF Champions WHO Onchocerciasis Statue Dolf Champions     Left Photo: Lead DOLF Members: Gary Weil, Juerg Utzinger, Michel Boussinesq, Peter Fischer, Chris King, Sebastien Pion, Charles Mackenzie Middle Photo: WHO Onchocerciasis Statue Right Photo: Lead DOLF Members: Charles Mackenzie, Gary Weil, Juerg Utzinger, Chris King, Sebastien Pion The DOLF Champions met with Technical Advisory […]