What is river blindness

The larvae move to the subcutaneous tissue of your skin, and mature into adult worms over 6 to 12 months. The cycle repeats when a female blackfly bites a person infected with onchocerciasis and ingests the parasite.

Adult worms can live for 10 to 15 years and may produce millions of microfilariae during that time. Microfilariae are baby or larval worms. Symptoms appear when microfilariae die, so symptoms can continue to worsen the longer you are infected. The most extreme, longest-lasting cases result in blindness. Ninety percent of cases are in Africa , but cases have also been identified in Yemen and in six countries in Latin America.

Residents, volunteers, and missionaries in areas of Africa are at the greatest risk. An alternative test is called the Mazzotti test. This test is a skin patch test using the drug diethylcarbamazine DEC. DEC causes the microfilariae to die rapidly, which can lead to severe symptoms. There are two ways that clinicians may use DEC to test for onchocerciasis. One way is by giving you an oral dose of the medication. The other method involves putting DEC on a skin patch. That will cause localized itching and a rash in people with river blindness.

A more rarely used test is the nodulectomy. This test involves surgically removing a nodule and then examining it for worms. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA test can also be performed, but it requires expensive equipment. Two newer tests, polymerase chain reaction PCR and rapid-format antibody card tests, show promise.

Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address: Email Address. What's this? In , Sightsavers helped to distribute more than 8 million treatments for river blindness. As part of our push to eliminate river blindness, in November we achieved a historic milestone: distributing the one billionth treatment to people affected by neglected tropical diseases.

The billionth treatment, an antibiotic for river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, was administered to a seven-year-old girl named Dorcas, who was at risk of NTDs in a community in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Meet year-old Emmanuel, who lost his sight while earning a living as a fisherman after he contracted river blindness. Kareen Atekem's work on a new project to help control and eliminate two neglected tropical diseases has been recognised by the NTD Innovation Prize competition. On 30 January , Sightsavers joined global celebrations to mark the fight against neglected tropical diseases.

Ghana has not been spared in the coronavirus crisis, but luckily the country started its response early, with NTD support redirected. Want to hear more from Sightsavers? Join more than , supporters who receive inspiring emails about life-changing projects and ways to support our work. You will receive regular updates about our work and can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in each newsletter, or by emailing [email protected].

In , Plateau and Nasarawa states became the first in Nigeria to meet the national criteria for elimination of onchocerciasis transmission, protecting about 2 million residents. Delta state interrupted transmission of river blindness, allowing it to stop MDA for another 2 million residents; Delta will now conduct three years of post-treatment surveillance that will conclude with an entomology assessment to determine if it too can move to "transmission eliminated" status.

In the Americas, only two countries, Brazil and Venezuela, have ongoing river blindness transmission. In , Colombia became the first country in the world to be granted verification of elimination of river blindness by the World Health Organization.

Ecuador, Mexico, and Guatemala followed in Colombia's steps, receiving official verification of elimination in , , and , respectively. In Sudan, transmission was eliminated in the Abu Hamad focus River Nile state in and interrupted in Galabat subfocus Gaderif state in Learn More. First Name:. Last Name:.