Correspondence: eW Cupp 1309 Allen street, Owensboro, KY 42303, UsA Tel +1 270 926 1559 email [email protected] Abstract: Ivermectin (registered for human use as Mectizan) was donated by Merck & Co Inc in 1987 for the treatment and control of human onchocerciasis (“river blindness”). This philanthropic gesture has had a remarkable effect in reducing the incidence and prevalence of this serious...

Onchocerciasis (also known as ‘river blindness’), is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by the (Simulium-transmitted) filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus. The occurrence of ‘blinding’ (savannah) and non-blinding (forest) parasite strains existence corresponding, locally adapted Onchocerca–Simulium complexes were postulated to explain greater blindness prevalence in savannah than forest...

Using a computer simulation study, we have investigated the risk and dynamics of onchocerciasis recrudescence after stopping vector control, in order to provide guidelines for operational decision-making in the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP). For this purpose, we used the microsimulation model ONCHOSIM to predict for periods of 9-15 years of vector control the ensuing ris...

The donation of ivermectin (Mectizan, Merck & Co., Inc.) to control onchocerciasis (river blindness) was established in 1987 and has since gradually expanded to provide for >570 million treatments cumulatively over the past 20 years. The Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) operates within a broad partnership in 33 endemic countries in need of mass treatment. Particular operational methods and tools...

background: onchocerciasis is endemic in the imo river basin, nigeria. this study was aimed at assess­ing the prevalence and intensity of microfilaria of onchocerca volvulus in the area. methods: a cross-sectional study was carried out in the okigwe local government area, imo state, nige­ria. two skin snips (one from the waist and another from the shoulder) were taken from 1024 individu­als exa...

ONCHOCERCIASIS is caused by infection with the adult filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus; the microfilariae of this worm develop in the body of man and sometimes penetrate the tissues of the eye where they set up pathological changes leading to blindness; embryos may also be found in the skin, in lymph glands, in the fluid of hydroceles, and in effusions into joints. The disease has been reported...