Significant heterogeneity in Wolbachia copy number within and between populations of Onchocerca volvulus

Background Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria found in arthropods and several filarial nematode species. The filarial Wolbachia have been proposed to be involved in the immunopathology associated with onchocerciasis. Higher Wolbachia-to-nematode ratios have been reported in the savannah-ecotype compared to the forest-ecotype, and have been interpreted as consistent with a correlation between Wolbachia density and disease severity. However, factors such as geographic stratification and ivermectin drug exposure can lead to significant genetic heterogeneity in the nematode host populations, so we investigated whether Wolbachia copy number variation is also associated with these underlying factors.