A practical strategy for responding to a case of lymphatic filariasis post-elimination in Pacific Islands

Background Lymphatic filariasis (LF) due to Wuchereria bancrofti is being eliminated from Oceania under the Pacific Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis Programme. LF was endemic in Solomon Islands but in the 2010-2020 Strategic Plan of the Global Programme to Eliminate LF, Solomon Islands was listed as non-endemic for LF. In countries now declared free of LF an important question is what monitoring strategy should be used to detect any residual foci of LF? This paper describes how a new case of elephantiasis in a post-elimination setting may be used as a trigger to initiate a local survey for LF.