Endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria that infect the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus were previously found to have an essential role in the pathogenesis of river blindness. The current study demonstrates that corneal inflammation induced by Wolbachia or O. volvulus antigens containing Wolbachia is completely dependent on expression of myeloid differentiation factor 88.

The fight against onchocerciasis (river blindness), one of the most devastating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), has mobilized significant resources and brought together diverse public and private stakeholders. Affected communities, governments of endemic countries, non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs), donors, and researchers are contributing, each in their own way, to what is...

This review summarises more than a century of research on onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, and its control. River blindness is an infection caused by the tissue filaria Onchocerca volvulus affecting skin, subcutaneous eyes leading to in minority infected persons. The parasite transmitted intermediate hosts Simulium spp. which breed rivers. Featured are history milestones onchocerc...

The first draft of this case was prepared by Jane Seymour and Molly Kinder; significant contributions to the current version were made by Bruce Benton. as in a prominent square in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, visitors see a distinctive statue of a child leading a blind man—a symbolic reminder to passersby of the part each partner played in the control of one of Africa’s most devastating diseases....

Onchocerciasis, also known as "river blindness", is a neglected tropical disease infecting millions of people mainly in Africa and the Middle East but also in South America and Central America. Disease infectivity initiates from the filarial parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted by the blackfly vector Simulium sp. carrying infectious third-stage larvae. Ivermectin has con...