Elephantiasis

Cause

Some conditions that present with elephantiasis include the following:

• Elephantiasis nostras, due to longstanding chronic lymphangitis.
• Elephantiasis tropica (known as lymphatic filariasis), caused by a number of parasitic nematode worms, particularly Wuchereria bancrofti. More than 120 million people, mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia, are affected.
• Nonfilarial elephantiasis (or podoconiosis), an immune disease affecting the lymph vessels
• Leishmaniasis
• Elephantiasis, Grade 3 lymphedema, which may occur in people with breast cancer
• Genital elephantiasis, result of lymphogranuloma venereum
• Proteus syndrome, a genetic disorder best known as the condition possibly experienced by Joseph Merrick, the so-called Elephant Man

Other causes may include:

• Repeated streptococcal infection
• Lymphadenectomy
• Hereditary birth defects
• Pretibial myxedema

Other diseases, such as the rare Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome, can initially be misdiagnosed as elephantiasis.

Elephantiasis may have been the skin condition suffered by Biblical character Job.