R -- R-Furnish Brugia Malayi Adult Worms and/or Brugia Malayi Infective Larvae

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases intends to negotiate with the University of Georgia, Research Foundation, Inc. a follow-on contract to provide 221, 200/year infective larvae and adult worms of the filarial parasite Brugia Malayi. The contractor shall furnish the specific strain and quantities of these parasitic worms according to the required procedures. The primary objective for the use of these parasites is for studying human immunity to filariasis, a disease which causes elephantiasis in humans, and to develop an appropriate vaccine for the infection. The high quality and well standardized parasite materials required under this contract are necessary to maintain the progress of on-going carefully controlled research studies being conducted by NIH. In addition to the above, colonies of the mosquito Aedes Aequpti (Liverpool strain) are required to be maintained for the production of the infective larvae. The parasitic materials derived from the mosquitoes must be collected, counted, stored, maintained and further processed in a manner required for this research study. The larvae and adult worms which are required to be produced from the larvae, have to be stored until needed in a freezer (stored at -80 degree centigrade), and injected intraperitoneally into jirds or suspended in media 199 and shipped immediately by air express. Sixty to ninety days later, adult worms will be collected from the peritoneal cavity of jirds and stored at 80 degrees centigrade until needed. It is anticipated that a contract will be awarded for a Base Year with 6 twelve-month option periods. See Numbered Note 22.