Filariasis

What is Filariasis?

Have you ever heard of it?  Neither had I before this spring.  In preparation for an upcoming move to Kuwait, I was required to go through some medical testing.  Sounds simple enough right?  You go to your doctor, give her/him the list, and get some results in about a week.  Well, it wasn’t that simple for me.  I went to my doctor. She reviewed me list.  “I can test you for STDs, but I can’t help you with the other things on your list”.   What!  My doctor can’t test me for just anything?  Imagine my surprise.  Apparently there is red tape and insurance billing issues that get in the way of running just any test on a healthy patient.   What do I do now?

I needed to be tested for STDs, malaria, TB, filarias, and a few other things.  The TB test couldn’t be the simple screening that employers in the states often do involving a poke in your arm.  I needed a chest x-ray.  I don’t know what the various diseases are that people try to bring into Kuwait, but this testing makes it clear that they don’t want to deal with it.  I went to the health department.  Surely the health department can perform medical testing.  “I’m sorry ma’am, but we don’t perform those test hear.  Are you kidding me?  What happens when people have infectious diseases.  How do they get tested?  They suggested  I call a company that specialized in immunization for travel.  I did.  “I’m sorry ma’am.  We can’t help you.”  Actually, everyone also asked “What is filariasis?”  Well, I can know honestly tell you that I still don’t know the answer to this question.  It is a skin disorder, and not at all common in the US.  This is the reason that my doctor didn’t even know how to order a test for it. 

I was starting to get really frustrated with this process.  How can I submit test results when I can’t find a doctor to test me.  Thankfully I found a angel in the form of a nurse named Jordana.  She listened to my concerns, asked what filariasis was, and took my number with a promise to call back after checking to see if a doctor at her practice could help me.  She found one!  The end of this long story is that my testing has been completed. 

I had about 5 viles of blood drawn and a chest x-ray to complete this process, but the process is complete.  Moral of this story?  If at first you don’t succeed, keep calling doctors until you get the right response.