CMAJ • JULY 7, 2009 • 181(1-2) © 2009 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors E4 Although the number of cases of onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness, is declining in most of Africa, a worrisome upsurge is being recorded in northern Uganda along the southern Sudan border, where conflict has reigned for most of the last 2 decades. Richard Ndyomugyenyi, head of the Ugandan prog...

purpose : to determine the anatomical site and underlying causes of blindness and severe visual impairment (bl/svi), in schools for the blind in east azerbaijan state with determining potentially preventable and treatable causes. methods : between october 2003 and november 2004 a total of 124 students attending three schools for the blind in east azerbaijan state were examined clinically and da...

The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) has been described as one of the most successful public-private partnerships for health in Africa [1]. The Programme helps the governments of 20 onchocerciasis-endemic countries to develop sustainable delivery of ivermectin treatment in order to control and eliminate river blindness [2]. APOC is one of a very few programs that the WHO impl...

An endemic focus of onchocerciasis, the so-called “‘river blindness” widespread in parts of Africa, has been discovered in Brazil. Until recently the only confirmed foci ! in this Hemisphere were in Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela. The research confirming this new Brazilian focus indicates the disease has spread over a fairly large swath of backlands in the vicinity of the Brazil-Ven...