Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, is a disease caused by infection with the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus.[1] Symptoms include severe itching, bumps under the skin, and blindness.[1] It is the second-most common cause of blindness due to infection, after trachoma.[6]
The parasitic worm is spread by the bites of a black fly of the Simulium type.[1] Usually, many bites are required before infection occurs.[7] These flies live near rivers, hence the common name of the disease.[6] Once inside a person, the worms create larvae that make their way out to the skin, where they can infect the next black fly that bites the person.[1] There are a number of ways to make the diagnosis, including: placing a biopsy of the skin in normal saline and watching for the larva to come out; looking in the eye for larvae; and looking within the bumps under the skin for adult worms.[8]
A vaccine against the disease does not exist.[1] Prevention is by avoiding being bitten by flies.[2] This may include the use of insect repellent and proper clothing.[2] Other efforts include those to decrease the fly population by spraying insecticides.[1] Efforts to eradicate the disease by treating entire groups of people twice a year are ongoing in a number of areas of the world.[1] Treatment of those infected is with the medication ivermectin every six to twelve months.[1][3] This treatment kills the larvae but not the adult worms.[4] The antibiotic doxycycline weakens the worms by killing an associated bacterium, Wolbachia, and is recommended by some as well.[4] The lumps under the skin may also be removed by surgery.[3]
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2017, about 20.9 million people were infected with Onchocerciasis, and an estimated 1.15 million have some amount of loss of vision from the infection.[7] Most infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa, although cases have also been reported in Yemen and isolated areas of Central and South America.[1] In 1915, the physician Rodolfo Robles first linked the worm to eye disease.[9] It is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a neglected tropical disease.[10] In 2013 Colombia became the first country to eradicate the disease.[10]
^ abcdefghijk"Onchocerciasis Fact sheet N°374". who.int. World Health Organization. March 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^ abc"Onchocerciasis (also known as River Blindness) Prevention & Control". CDC.gov. US: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 21, 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^ abcMurray P (2013). Medical microbiology (7th ed.). Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders. p. 792. ISBN 978-0-323-08692-9. Archived from the original on 2017-09-08.
^ abcBrunette GW (2011). CDC Health Information for International Travel 2012: The Yellow Book. Oxford University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-19-983036-7. Archived from the original on 2017-09-08.
^Vos T, Allen C, Arora M, et al. (8 October 2016). "Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". The Lancet. 388 (10053): 1545–1602. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31678-6. PMC 5055577. PMID 27733282.
^ ab"Parasites: Onchocerciasis (also known as River Blindness)". CDC.gov. US: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^ ab"Parasites – Onchocerciasis (also known as River Blindness) Epidemiology & Risk Factors". CDC.gov. US: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^"Onchocerciasis (also known as River Blindness) Diagnosis". CDC.gov. US: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^Lok, James B., Walker, Edward D., Scoles, Glen A. (2004). "9. Filariasis". In Eldridge, Bruce F., Edman, John D., Edman, J. (eds.). Medical entomology (Revised ed.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. p. 301. ISBN 978-1-4020-1794-0. Archived from the original on 2017-09-08.
^ ab"Onchocerciasis (river blindness)". who.int. World Health Organization. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
of onchocerciasis are due to localized host inflammatory responses to dead or dying microfilariae (larvae). The signs and symptoms of onchocerciasis are...
Filaria that are spread by mosquitoes. Other types of filariasis are onchocerciasis also known as river blindness caused by onchocerca volvulus; Loa loa...
severe eye disease occurring in people affected by onchocerciasis, a filarial worm infection. Onchocerciasis had already been known for a long time, but until...
volvulus is a filarial (arthropod-borne) nematode (roundworm) that causes onchocerciasis (river blindness), and is the second-leading cause of blindness due...
the Control of Onchocerciasis (APOC) and Oncho Elimination Programme for the Americas to greatly diminish the effect of onchocerciasis by donating ivermectin...
and Onchocerciasis in the Rainforest of Nigeria: the Social Effects of Genital Complications among Woman as a coinvestigator; National Onchocerciasis Control...
in 1997, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control reports a reduction in the prevalence of onchocerciasis in the countries under its mandate from...
to treat infestations including head lice, scabies, river blindness (onchocerciasis), strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, ascariasis and lymphatic filariasis...
of onchocerciasis, while having no effect on the microfilariae of L. loa. In a study done at five different co-endemic regions for onchocerciasis and...
mission of eradicating onchocerciasis. Onchocerciasis is a neglected tropical disease. The primary strategy to control onchocerciasis is to interrupt the...
treatment complications can be increased in individuals co-infected with onchocerciasis. Some of these patients experienced cases of coma and resultant encephalopathy...
surveillance of the neglected tropical diseases lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, amongst others. Pilotte N, Unnasch TR, Williams SA (October 2017)....
The phenomenon is so common when DEC is used for the treatment of onchocerciasis that this drug is the basis of a skin patch test used to confirm that...
PMID 18927419. CDC Advisory Archived 2007-05-31 at the Wayback Machine "What is onchocerciasis?". CDC. Retrieved 2010-06-28. transmission is most intense in remote...
better inform decisions surrounding healthcare policy in the region. Onchocerciasis ("river blindness"), a common cause of blindness, is also endemic to...
in paralysis and death of the parasite. Moxidectin was approved for onchocerciasis (river-blindness) in 2018 for people over the age of 11 in the United...
based on fictional movie items Onchocerciasis Control Programme, a global effort to control the disease Onchocerciasis Opera Company of Philadelphia Oregon...
bathing and washing. Way: Raga River (200829470). Onchocerciasis control programme, p. 2. Onchocerciasis control programme (PDF), World Health Organization...
and high HIV prevalence rates. Dengue, filariasis, leishmaniasis and onchocerciasis (river blindness) are other diseases carried by insects that also occur...
Filarioidea (Filariasis) Onchocerca volvulus Onchocerciasis Loa loa Loa loa filariasis Mansonella Mansonelliasis Dirofilaria repens D. immitis Dirofilariasis...
congenital rubella syndrome and retinopathy of prematurity. Leprosy and onchocerciasis each blind approximately 1 million individuals in the developing world...
transmission of the parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus which causes onchocerciasis, or "river blindness," which is endemic in parts of South America, Africa...
prevention of loiasis in those at high risk. While it has been used for onchocerciasis (river blindness), ivermectin is preferred. It is taken by mouth. Common...
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