Elephantiasis: What Causes This Strange Condition?

A Brazilian man with elephantiasis, a rare condition in which people's limbs become discolored and swell to enormous sizes, was recently featured on the popular Animal Planet show "River Monsters," which often films in tropical, heavily forested locales. As the name "elephantiasis" implies, the condition causes a person's limb to resemble that of an elephant. Elephantiasis is actually a complication of a parasitic infection called lymphatic filariasis.