River blindness (onchocerciasis) is caused by an nematode Onchocerca volvulus which is primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa, and humans are the only known definitive host. It is spread from person to person via female biting blackflies of the genus Simulium.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerca_volvulus
River blindness (onchocerciasis) is caused by an nematode Onchocerca volvulus which is primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa, and humans are the only known definitive host. It is spread from person to person via female biting blackflies of the genus Simulium.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerca_volvulus
Onchocerca volvulus:
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/onchocerciasis/index.html
Onchocerca volvulus, a parasite is the causative agent for Onchocerciasis/river blindness.
On this issue, I know:
The causative agent of onchocerciasis, or "river blindness", is the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus.
Infection is transmitted to people through multiple bites of infected Similium midges.
Symptoms include severe itching, disfiguring skin conditions, and visual impairment, including persistent blindness.
Over 99% of infected people live in 31 countries in Africa; foci of disease also exist in parts of Latin America and in Yemen.
In 2017, as part of the Global Burden of Disease Survey, estimates were made according to which there are 20.9 million people infected with O. volvulus in the world: 14.6 million people are affected by the skin, and 1.15 million are blind.
The main strategy for the eradication of onchocerciasis in Africa is the treatment of ivermectin at the community level, and in America - conducting 2 times a year large-scale campaigns for the treatment of ivermectin.
WHO has confirmed that after several decades of successful elimination of onchocerciasis, four countries - Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Guatemala - are now free from this disease.
By the end of 2017, three more countries - the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Uganda and Sudan - had stopped mass drug use campaigns and completed three-year post-treatment surveillance activities in at least one transmission area.
1.8 million people live in areas that have ceased to need massive campaigns for taking drugs for onchocerciasis. Regards, Pushkin Sergey Viktorovich
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