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Elephantiasis and Polynesian Origins

Abstract

Early explorers reported widespread infection of Polynesians with elephantiasis. The causative organism is the parasitic worm Wuchereria bancrofti. This poses the problem of how the parasite reached Polynesia.

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LAURENCE, B. Elephantiasis and Polynesian Origins. Nature 219, 561–563 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/219561a0

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