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Historical Bibliography Updated: July 14, 2026

Macrofilaricidal activity after doxycycline treatment of Wuchereria bancrofti: A double blind randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Lancet, 365, 2116-2121. 2005.

Order of authorship in the original paper: Taylor, Makunde, McGarry.... The authors treated infection by the parasitic worm Wuchereria bancrofti, cause of elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis), by killing the Wolbachia bacteria inside the worm with the antibiotic doxycycline. Since the worm requires the Wolbachia (a symbiont) to live, killing the Wolbachia bacteria eliminates the worm and cures the disease.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

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Entry Number#11193
Permanent Linkhttps://beta.historyofmedicine.com/id/13390
External URLmacrofilaricidal-activity-after-doxycycline-treatment-of-wuchereria-bancrofti-a-double-blind-randomized-placebocontrolled-trial