Is there another name for filariasis?
Most people are probably more familiar with this disease known by another name, elephantiasis. Elephantiasis is not “Elephant Man disease.” For many years it was assumed that Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, suffered from neurofibromatosis, and for this reason neurofibromatosis is often called “Elephant Man disease”. Neurofibromatosis is not caused by a parasite; it is a genetic disease. There is now speculation that Merrick actually suffered from a much rarer condition known as Proteus syndrome.
