TheGiantSquid of Research Blogging – All Topics – English says
Men with infected scrotums less desirable to women!
Stating the obvious, but still nice to have the data. Ours being a shallow society, the ‘marriageability’ of somebody with a filarial hydrocele (only click if you’re not eating your breakfast and you have a strong stomach) is probably not that high. The severe impact on sexual function, as well as the obvious cosmetic challenges, make them low on the list of potential suitors for young ladies.
Despite the light tone of the introduction the post itself is about a serious issue in India and other tropical countries where filariasis (which in extreme cases results in elephantiasis) is chronic.
What the researchers in this study did is ask the community how they felt about people with hydroceles. The results are unsurprisingly sad. 94% of wives of patients were dissatisfied with their sexual life, and that these men are overwhelmingly the ‘last choice’ for marriage. 94% of the patients themselves reported sexual frustration, with 88% reporting severe pain during intercourse. The morbidity of this disease is clearly profound, and most of the sufferers don’t have appropriate psycho-social support groups to help them out.
The illness is a disability. Sufferers, and their partners, have psychological and social issues and not just medical ones.
