Doxycycline for Mansonella perstans Infection

To the Editor: The article by Coulibaly et al. (Oct. 8 issue)¹ and the corresponding editorial by Hoerauf² point out the role of wolbachia as an endosymbiont in mansonella, and they report on doxycycline as an effective therapy for filariasis. The killing of intracellular wolbachia allows the eradication of filariasis. Wolbachia present a very unique specificity with the capability of integrating part of their genome into their hosts.³ For example, the wolbachia endosymbiont of Brugia malayi, another filarial nematode, and Wolbachia pipiens–infecting insects (such as Culex pipiens) integrate their genome nearly completely into the chromosome of their hosts. . . .