The economic losses and social stigma caused by the physical deformity of the patients in the chronic phase make bancroftosis the second world cause of work disability.
In Brazil, bancroftosis is restricted to the city of Recife, Pernambuco State, some neighboring cities, and the city of Maceio, Alagoas State.
This study aimed to assess the occurrence of cases of bancroftosis in non-endemic areas for this parasitosis in Maceio, Alagoas State, and its epidemiological significance.
(11) A similar situation was observed in previously non-endemic areas of the metropolitan region of Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, which currently have indigenous cases of bancroftosis. (12)
Some studies have indicated that the prevalence of bancroftosis is higher in the patient's family, whose members can have a chance seven-fold higher of being infected as compared to the general population of endemic areas.