Fig. 1.

Microfilaremic gerbils have higher worm burden. Gerbils were infected with 40 L3 of L. sigmodontis. The adult filarial burden was analyzed at 70 days p.i. in the pleural cavity and the microfilaremia was quantified in 10 µl of peripheral blood. Number of filariae (nF) and microfilaremia are shown for each individual (n = 27). Microfilaremic gerbils (Mf^pos) are in black (n = 20) and amicrofilaremic gerbils (Mf^neg) are in red (n = 7). A solid line connect the filarial load and the microfilaremia for each gerbil. Correlation between the number of filariae and microfilaremia was analyzed by Spearmanʼs test: r = 0.81, P < 0.0001